Freddie
by enajharas90
Summary: I've loved Carly all my life, and Sam always had a place in my heart that not even Carly got close to. Problem? Carly seems to love Sam all her life and Sam seems to have a place for Carly in her heart that not even ham got close to. Dear me. CAM!
1. If I were Fredward Benson

If I were Freddie Benson exactly 156 days ago, I would've thrown a fit and declared Samantha Puckett the person I hated most. However, this is exactly 156 days after my point of reference, I still am Freddie Benson, and I don't curse her. I felt zero percent hatred even at the sight of a wreck that used to be Carly Shay.

I held Carly in my arms as she sobbed and heaved breaths in my shoulder. I occasionally patted her back and whispered shushes in her ear but she refused to stop from crying. It was times like these that I actually begged the heavens that I should have been Sam. After all, she was the only one capable of making Carly feel better. However, this situation, perhaps, is an exception. I guess that's why I was the one made to shush Carly and not the great Puckett.

Honestly, I didn't know what to do, and to make matters worse, the rain was pouring so hard. I was shivering. Obviously because I was standing in the middle of the rain trying to calm someone who was practically sobs and tears that turned into a human being. I looked up at the dark, nimbus-deflating night sky and almost cursed at it for aggravating the situation. It seemed as if it cried so hard like her – or rather, cried so hard with her. I don't blame the sky. I myself could feel the throbbing in my chest like her pain was contagious.

'I'm so sorry, Carly,' was all I could muster as I held her closer. 'I didn't know.'

If I were Freddie Benson exactly 156 days ago, I would've rejoiced like the lovesick little puppy I was. However, right now, all I could feel was grief for a friend who just admitted defeat. _Ouch_. Haha. I just felt an extra jolt of pain in my chest. I guess the fact that Carly was the type of person who refused to lose made the empathy I felt even greater.

She continued to cry in my shoulder and I continued to be helpless until she broke the silence between us with a whisper that I couldn't have understood if her lips were even an inch distant from my ear.

'I'm tired,' was what she mustered.

'I know,' I began and patted her back again. 'I'm sorry it has to be like this. We can think about what to do next when you get some rest.'

She cried even harder and I felt her shake her head in disagreement.

'I'm so tired of _this_, Freddie,' she said.

I just nodded. What else was there to do? She didn't budge from where she stood. I tried earlier but she didn't let me. I could only stare at the entrance of Bushwell Plaza as if the answer would pop out of there. And just when I gave up on that thought and concluded it was crazy and desperate, the answer indeed appeared in the form of what seemed to be a confused and worried Sam Puckett.

She was rushing outside, umbrella in hand, and only slowed down on her step at the sight of us. I could swear I saw her move slightly towards the lobby like she intended to come back inside but she stopped halfway. I wanted to shake my head and curse perhaps. But I didn't.

I only looked at Sam…because I didn't know what to say.

This may be new to me, but I knew when both my friends are in pain and when both of them haven't reached the agreement they deserved to arrive at – to make the other realize to whom they belong.

They shared something special – one that not even the pain in my chest, translated to love, is able to equal.

If I were Freddie Benson exactly 156 days ago, I would've left the picture. But now, I decide that I will return from day one and try to make sense out of everything. Because I am Freddie Benson exactly 156 days after and I refuse to let this go on like this.


	2. Gaydar

'Thanks, Freddie.'

I gave Spencer a small nod as he lifted his sister and started walking back to the doors of Bushwell Plaza. I could hear Lewbert screaming about too many people dripping lots of water in his lobby. That idiot. What does he expect? It's raining really hard.

Yes. In fact, it's raining a little too hard. But I still stood in the showers of nature speechless and chest gloated with what seemed to be eternal pain. I inhaled deeply, hoping it would get rid of the heavy feeling. My cellphone had been vibrating in the pocket of my pants for maybe hours now. I knew it would be mother telling me to come back inside. I could solve math problems in minutes and would easily figure out that staying in the rain for too long would give me a bad cold, but my mind was too occupied with thoughts, it almost seemed as if it no longer coordinated with my body.

Well, a picture of me with hypothermia attacks was lingering somewhere at the back of my brain though. It's probably trying to make its way out of the crowd of Carlys, Sams, and Carly and Sams.

Phew. I have only adjusted to all this for only a couple of weeks enough for a normal person to adjust to thoughts of his bestfriends in a pit of love and fear. However, the problem was, I wasn't a normal guy trying to digest that kind of thought. I was the guy who at least tried and somehow pictured to be with one of them. Maybe that's why I'm still trying to disintegrate that bridge that supposedly connects my heart and my brain. So the trucks of emotional intervention wouldn't be rendered successful.

I must say, I'm doing a pretty good job at that. Or maybe not to some.

'Mister? Are you cold?'

There was a little girl looking at me from under her tiny umbrella. I barely noticed earlier while I was deep in thought. She was tugging at the sleeves of my shirt as she tried to get a reaction from me. I tried my best to give her a smile, and then I shook my head.

'I think you are.'

She rested the trunk of her umbrella on her shoulder and began removing her red scarf off her neck.

'Here,' she said as she handed her scarf to me. It was so small. It was probably only enough to cover my hand. I pushed her hand gently back to her and shook my head with a smile.

'Mister, you're like my mom,' she gave a lopsided smile.

I knelt with one knee in front of her and helped her tie her scarf around her neck properly.

'Why do you think so?' I asked her probably out of curiosity I didn't know I still had right now.

'Because you don't want help, even when you're crying,' she said with one hand on her hip.

I didn't know what to say. I felt like I should thank the kid for the concern, but that side of me that had the Samness in it wanted to strangle her for being a smartass.

I could hear an elderly woman calling for a certain Ruth. I looked at the direction of her voice and saw Mrs. Cobb, who lived at 7H, waving at the little girl.

Little Miss Smarty beamed at me, took something from her pocket and shoved it in my hand before she ran toward her mother. I, on the other hand, suddenly had this extra thought in my head, which pretty much annoyed me.

Kids knew nothing. Yeah right, Freddie. Is that why they only state the obvious?

I unclenched my fingers to reveal a swirly lollipop on my palm. It's funny though. This lollipop looked very familiar – red and white swirling from the middle and a smiling purple nosed clown just under the candy part of it.

Yep. It was the very lollipop I just thought of staring at one day at school.

Ah, coincidentally, that was Day 1 of 156.

Or maybe it I wasn't just randomly looking at the candy. I was eyeing it because someone so nice just had to place it in my locker, among my books, when it was evidently half eaten. Thanks to that person I grew an entire colony of ants in my locker. Who could've done it? Oh I don't know. Maybe PUCKETT!

I inhaled deeply as I tried to calm myself and not accuse Sam since I didn't have evidence. Well, not that I needed evidence anyway; I just thought that fighting back isn't my thing today especially if lowering the candy on a stick I was just staring at will reveal the image of Carly Shay, happily talking to a couple of students.

So, indeed I lowered the lollipop and stared at her with a dumb smile on my face. I was there, staring in peace when Rip Off Rodney came whispering into my ear.

'Do you really think you have a chance?'

I sighed with annoyance and turned to him, 'Why? You think I don't? Not that I think I have since I've been barking that tree up since I could remember.'

'Yeah,' he agreed with his lips pursed. 'You've been barking for years and they just seem to be in a hopeless love affair…for years.'

'Wait-what?'

Clearly, I wasn't following. I wasn't sure who he meant until Sam came barging through the door and just snatched Carly out of the crowd of students she was having a sensible conversation with. Carly didn't even complain. She just beamed at Sam as if she just took in a jolly pill.

'I thought you were smart, Benson.'

Rodney shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head where the web show hosts stood.

When his point finally got into my head, I felt myself smirk, or maybe, forced myself to smirk.

'You kidding? I mean I've been watching since and they're bestfriends.'

I pretended to be clearing my locker of ants while I snuck stares at the two. I, myself, began to doubt what I truly believed when Carly began playing with Sam's ear.

'Dude, believe what you want,' Rodney began while shoving his books in his locker, 'but haven't you ever wondered why most of the boys who were around them since middle school haven't tried asking them out?'

'I'm not following.'

'Because most of us thought they were together and now, after a couple of years, we actually think they would be rather impenetratable with that little circle of two of theirs.'

'Hey! I'm part of that circle!' I exclaimed with a loud shut of my locker.

'Whoa, dude. Take it easy. If you want my point proven, I suggest you actually observe, and not gawk!'

With a knock on my forehead, Rodney left. The guy actually rendered me confused. Deep inside me, though, I felt I should observe. I was a fool though. I didn't observe too attentively since a part of me then wanted to believe that everyone was wrong if everyone was thinking the two are more than just bestfriends.

But that day. I had something in me that changed. I believe that was the day that I had my non-conventional eye opened. That's what I like calling it – the "Eye that Saw Beyond the Conventional".

But most people would just call it the Gaydar.


	3. Exhibit C: Pain in My Chest

Days 2 to 8 of 156.

No matter how unbothered I try to be, I can't help but look around and analyze every pair of "bestfriends" I pass by and analyze what the chiz there was between them. Thanks to my now activated Gaydar, I mean, ehem, my now opened "Non-Conventional Eye".

So what I did for just about that whole week was to try and sharpen "The Eye" and test it out. I decided that before I get to the climax of my analysis, which involved a Shay and a Puckett, I should be at least thirty percent ready. So I lied to the Shay and the Puckett with this,

'You guys, I have to get the ticks hiding under my leg hair off. So I'm going for a tick bath.'

Shay stopped preparing the Spaghetti Tacos, Puckett placed the meatball she was about to victimize back in the bowl where she took it from, and they only stared at me. They seemed like they wouldn't look away if I didn't explain any further.

'My phone's vibrating,' I began, 'and it's 4:00pm. So…that should probably be my mom. You know, reminding me of the Eye—I mean—tick bath. Yeah, the tick bath should be done. Uh-huh.'

They stared for a couple more seconds then finally returned to their business while they chatted happily. Which reminds me, why do they always seem to chat happily?

So, back to the accuracy I wanted to attain.

For about two days, from the moment I step out of our apartment, my walk through the crowd of Seattle, to my little park visits, I was observing every pair of girls. You know what? It actually made me look like some to-be criminal who only had bestfriends as targets in particular. But really, I was just bothered and curious.

During my walks, I attained an expanded knowledge of holding hands. I observed that some preferred to hold the other by the arm, others tightly by the further shoulder, a few with secured interlaced fingers, and a lot lightly held the fingers of the other.

Then, during my last visit at the park, after about twenty minutes of sitting, a pair finally arrived and jogged about. I watched how they told each other stuff and how they looked at each other. I tried to see if there was anything different. Well, they seemed to share something special. For when they stopped, the other was very concerned of the other, who seemed to have cramped a leg. But this definitely wasn't romantic love. It was friendly concern. I didn't know why I think that but I just think so. That thought was further reinforced when I noticed how they looked awfully alike by facial feature. Subsequently, I immediately scratched them out. I was dealing with homosexual relationships in my head and I really didn't plan on analyzing incest. Too much went on in the Fredward head.

I looked somewhere at the eastern side of the park where the benches were situated and I could see another pair who seemed to be playing some funny staring game. That was interesting, I should say. It should be easier to pull off as an experiment as opposed to breaking Carly or Sam's leg to get a substantial reaction from one of them.

The two brunettes seemed to be exchanging a few words for a few minutes. That went on until the other shifted in her seat and directly faced the other. They were just staring, then talking, and then staring then talking. When I was about to transfer to another specimen, I almost heard myself say bingo. They resorted to just staring at each other without the talking in the slush of interaction. From where I sat, I could actually understand that both of them tried to help themselves from smiling.

I made up my mind. Exhibit A will consist of physical translation of affection and Exhibit B, on the other hand, shall be the little staring contest – although I wasn't really sure how I should apply the latter.

I had to go home and spend a couple of days of the week to think about the application of my experiment. But the confusion was becoming annoying that it actually sparked my sense of curiosity. I put down my laptop one afternoon and I walked inside the Shay apartment after finding the door closed but unlocked.

'Tadah!' I said, feigning joy to mask my confusion. 'And that, ladies, is my version of the Sam entrance.'

The two girls were sitting on the longer couch and were apparently watching Girly Cow. Carly only shook her head with a smile. Sam, on the other hand, looked as uninterested as ever. In about three seconds though, I know she'd insult me.

I'm pretty much used to her light insults so I made my way to the smaller couch. Before I could even make myself comfortable, Sam suddenly blurted out.

'Except I didn't say your dorky tadah,' with that she rolled her eyes.

I just knew it. But anyway, I pretended to watch Girly Cow with them and made occasional stares at the two girls. Perhaps about halfway through the marathon special of the show, Sam adjusted from her seat and rested her head on Carly's shoulder.

Well, that seemed to be almost Exhibit A, but somehow not so Exhibit A-ish. Something was missing.

'Cupcake?' Sam sighed. 'I think my neck hurts.'

'Really?' Carly immediately stretched out her arm behind Sam and began rubbing the exposed part of the blonde's neck.

Okay, and there went the answer to my complaint. Missing piece, eh? I was beginning to feel uncomfortable and at that time, some cold finger seemed to have begun poking at my chest – close to where my heart was. I had to get myself a glass of water to rub the feeling away. Great huh? If Sam had a Carly to rub her pain away, it would seem that I just had to depend on water to rub mine.

I walked to the kitchen, announcing that I needed a glass of water and if any of them wanted some. Carly said no and Sam murmured something about my choice of drink being boring. Hohoho, if she only knew why I had to pick such a boring drink.

At least, upon nightfall, I knew I wasn't going to leave empty handed with regard to Exhibit B. Sam went home after a couple of hours and I just had to stand the waiting game to get Carly alone.

It was about 9:00pm and I was still sitting on the single seat while Carly remained on the couch. I then began the first part of my staring experiment. I made my movement to turn to her as obvious as I could and I stared directly into her eyes.

Carly, who immediately noticed, turned to look at me and gave me a terribly bored look.

'Freddie,' she began, still staring at me, 'not now.'

That was admittedly painful, no matter how planned that was and no matter how I seemed to have expected that from her. But the "Stare at Carly" segment was complete. I just had to get two segments more done.

I had to wait until the following day's afternoon to stare into Sam's eyes. Carly wasn't home yet from the Groovy Smoothie errand she had for Spencer and Sam was scooping spoonfuls directly from the Shay's tub of ice cream.

I slammed both my hands on the kitchen table to get Sam's attention since she seemed engrossed with the cold sweet treat than anything else in the world. And so, I engaged into Specimen Sam's eyes. The blonde, spoon still in mouth, turned to me and stared into my eyes as well. Not a second after though, she put the spoon down.

'Buzz off nub!'

Well. Don't worry about me. I'm okay guys. That was as expected as the Shay's reaction could get.

And so, going back to the experiment, I had to wait for the last day of the week to execute Segment C. It had to be planned a little further than the earlier segments since I had to get them to stare at each other.

I decided to initiate the plan by starting with Carly since she would listen to me. It was just so convenient that the Girly Cow Marathon Specials ran on weekends. Just when the first episode was playing on credits, I whispered into Carly's ear.

'Sam looks different now, doesn't she?'

Carly's attention went from the TV screen to Sam. She stared at her, trying to find what was different. She tilted her head and stared even more. Trying to find something that wasn't there will get her to stare longer at Sam, thus, more observation time for me.

Sam's eyes darted toward Carly's direction before she turned her head to meet the brunette's gaze. It was as if she made sure first that Carly was looking her way. She initially raised her eyebrows.

'What?' she asked with a smile that came rather slowly.

Carly's brows furrowed as she tried to pick up her explanation.

'Well, Freddie was just-' then she stopped midway. She was then trying to keep herself from returning Sam's smile. But I got to say, if that was any occupation she took wages for, she would be fired by the first minute.

'Nothing Sam,' she decided to say.

They stared at each other with full smiles for what seemed like two minutes for me, but God knows how many minutes they thought they played that little staring game they apparently enjoyed.

Sigh. Well. Don't worry about me guys. That wasn't too expected, but it hurt most.


	4. Roses are Red, but Fredward is Blue

Day 9 to 17 of 156

I have been counting.

For exactly nine days, I have been thrown into a pit of competition with Sam, who didn't even know she was involved in it. For instance, Day 11, we were preparing for iCarly, and I, Fredward Benson, who wasn't too bothered to keep staring at his bestfriends-turned-subjects, pretended to clean his camera lenses. Then, came scene A,

'Carls?' Sam said as she continued to stare oddly at her supposed bestfriend. 'There is something really different about you today.'

'Oh, stop that'

She was obviously holding in a smile. Yeah, and obviously, she was flattered but didn't want to look like it for some reason. She even gave Puckett a playful slap on her side. I felt the competitive vein on my forehead pop out. I just had to say something to get the flare of jealousy in my chest appeased.

'Actually,' I began. I set my camera down on my trolley of Holy Electronics and walked over where Carly and Sam were. 'You do look different. You know, the type of different I don't mind staring at all day.'

And so I smiled. I just offered her a sweet compliment that I dashed with a little bit more sweetness when I smiled widely at her. That finishing stance was the proof of my sincerity.

'Stop that,' she may have graced me by looking at me at that time but she said that so flatly it could have made thirty stacked pancakes into a single crepe.

How unfair was that? She said exactly the same thing that she said to Sam but I didn't feel the least bit honored. I didn't even get a playful slap. Or perhaps I shouldn't have asked for it – for the ever kindest Sam walked over to me and gave me her very own version of the "playful slap" I was looking for in place of Carly's. I didn't enjoy it. Trust me. No joy. No honor. No love. Nothing of the words I craved for involved there.

And in case you wanted to know more of the stack of evidences I never intended to collect anymore, came Day 13. I was behaving like my normal self. Well, normal as in, look-in-the-peep-hole normal.

I was just being Freddie, when instead of a loud thud on my door to get me off the peephole, it almost seemed like they didn't even notice me when they arrived in front the Shay apartment door.

They were laughing and enjoying each other's company. Still laughing, Carly unlocked the door and just when she was about to open it, Sam stopped her and told her she would do it instead. That was definitely my cue. Without wasting a second, I barged in the little scene they were building up and opened the door for them.

'Ladies?' I said as I held my arm out to the Shay apartment – signaling them to enter.

To my surprise, they both said thanks with really nice smiles I almost didn't believe. They walked in and my heart was pumping with joy. I knew that was my moment that neither of them would have overshadowed. But again, I was wrong. The door shut right at my face.

Don't worry guys, I'm fine. I'm okay, just in case someone is worried about me out there. Got any water with you, by the way? Oh, just to give that scene closure, that was Scene B for you.

With regard to Scene C, then began my despair. Admittedly, I lost lots of tiny little battles that I didn't know how I was going to get a timing of my own – a moment that could highlight my specialties. I never got that chance in case anyone's getting his hopes up. That's probably why Scene C occurred.

Sam was gawking at herself in the mirror she borrowed from Carly. I guess she was still a girl no matter how boyish she gets. She was being conscious about something she referred to as some shadow of an eye or something. I don't know.

As soon as she mentioned what her problem was, Carly was immediately on the rescue – she held Sam at both cheeks and began studying her face. I must say, "The Eye" was getting better and better. As fast as Carly would tend to Sam, I noticed how Puckett avoided Carly's eyes.

'I think this make up is a little too dark for you,' Carly said with a lopsided smile.

I, on the other hand, in an effort to rid of my pain yet again, I stepped closer to them and commented the best I can, 'Yeah, that make-up—thingy—shadow is dark. I think you should use green.'

Both girls seemed to have frozen momentarily and looked at me.

'Dude, you gay?' Sam asked. I could tell, there was no pun intended there. For the first time in my life, I actually admitted that it wasn't her fault for saying such a thing.

And so, this went on. I didn't know how much more I could take. On Day 17, I was in no competitive state at all. It wasn't that hard to tell as I walked like a zombie – eyes ahead, feet continuous. I even bumped unto Mrs. Briggs. She scolded me but I didn't even budge.

I still went for my locker and I was just thankful that it was only Carly whom I saw ahead of me. I spent a couple of seconds thanking the heavens for I wouldn't be witnessing anymore awkwardness. Or, yet again, so I thought.

Carly was looking really happy as she held what appeared to be a rose. That wasn't initially surprising. She ought to have tons of admirers, and I was pretty sure I would offer her a rose too. When she caught sight of me, she waved for me to come over.

I dragged my feet to get to her and eased great effort to pretend I was interested since it wasn't from me. In addition to that, the way a note was tied like a ribbon around the stem told me this was from the same person who had been giving her flowers for the past five days. That tacky fellow had this secret admirer thing going on and it made Carly happy, me annoyed, and Sam uninterested.

'Yep?' I asked.

'I'm clueless. You have any guesses yet?'

I only shook my head at that. I was obviously getting Sammy with the situation.

Approximately an hour after our last class ended, I was still waiting for my mom to pick me up. She called earlier to inform me that she just had to get something at the pharmacy (God knows what) just for a few moments, and so, I patiently waited.

'Geez!'

Yeah. Very patiently waited.

My waiting went on until I heard noises somewhere inside. I didn't care at first since I was feeling very beat with everything that had been happening since Day 1 of 156. My nonchalant behavior towards the noises went on until it occurred to me that they sounded very much like screeching metal.

I just wished that I didn't go inside and heed my very correct hypothesis. Yes, I was VERY correct about guessing that it might be Carly's secret admirer leaving the rose in her locker again. I truly am a genius. It's times like these though that I wish wasn't smart – smart enough to sneak back in unnoticed, see Sam carefully securing Carly's locker and understand what that meant in an instant.


	5. To Retreat and Breathe, Not to Surrender

A few days after the little discovery I made, I finally had a clear message in my head – the battlefield has officially revealed both ends of the skirmishes to come.

Well, yeah. I was broken for a few days but I figured that I still had hope. Carly didn't know it was Sam who had been leaving her roses anyway. In addition to that, nobody had a good guess of what might happen if the three ends of the triangle had the same understanding of the situation. So, it might still be worth the try to pursue my ambition.

Lastly, I just had to do something about that annoyance that tugged at my nerves whenever Carly excitedly talked about the roses and the notes she was getting. If I knew better, she was at the verge of playing Sherlock Holmes to find out who it was.

Hence, for half a week I was planning a surprise dinner date for Carly and me, myself and Fredowardo. I made sure that all possible things that could mess it up was out of the way, such as potentially cuter guys (if she was even really into them), anything Sammy, or the Puckett itself. Oh yeah, I had to lie to my mom too. If she knew what the date was about and who was involved in it, it would never even happen. She thinks Carly distorted my thoughts of women. But now that I think about it, yeah, she and her Puckett moments did distort my thoughts of women.

It was quite an amount I had to save up to finally get that reservation at the Cheesecake Warehouse, buy myself a non-geeky get up and a fresh bouquet of flowers all in the final night.

A few minutes after I was contented with my hair do, I practiced a little in front of the mirror with the bouquet in hand. I smiled at myself. I just knew it would work.

I walked over to the Shay apartment and placed three nervous knocks on their door. I could hear her laughing. She seemed to be having a discussion with someone. Bah, who cared what she was doing? I'd ask her out even if she just woke up.

As soon as the door swung open, there she was – the girl I wanted to see. And for once, nothing was amiss.

'Hey,' she said with a smile. 'You should join us! We were just preparing dinner.'

I only realized now how she didn't even notice my efforts to impress her at that moment. But she didn't act like she didn't care. Perhaps, she just offered care that was just enough for a Freddie Benson. Anyway, why don't we return to that scene?

'Actually, I was just-' as I walked in, I was cut off at the sight of Sam, who appeared to be the best ingredient of the "preparing dinner" bit she was just saying.

I couldn't say anything else.

Sam straightened to get a peek at the bouquet I was holding. I saw a hint of hurt for a second. She got her game face back on as Carly returned to the kitchen.

Carly seemed to have been saying that I shouldn't have bothered to bring her presents. I really wouldn't have made it out clearly. I wasn't just preoccupied – I was totally occupied by the image of that frowning Sam just seconds ago. The more I try to remember how she looked like, I felt all the pawns, knights and towers I had retreat.

I gave one last look at the bouquet I was holding as I contemplated my plans. I sigh escaped my lips as the thought of throwing all that I prepared for haunted me.

'I found these on your mat,' I finally said.

'Oh,' Carly seemed to have thought for a second before she returned to preparing dinner. 'Thanks. Just place them on the table in the living room.'

Before I completely set the flowers down on the table, I made sure none of the ladies were looking when I snatched the card I made from the bunch of petals. I slipped it in my pocket where it would be forgotten or, rather, never be known.

Dinner went by and I was obviously unhappy, uncomfortable and, not to mention, hurt. Apart from snatching my card from its rightful position, I had to sneak a call to cancel my reservation as well. Sam owed me and she will never know. I guess that's what hurts the most.

Sam offered to help Carly get the plates done, which surprised her immensely.

'Wow,' she began. 'First, you help me cook, and now, you help me clean the dishes?'

'Well, abuse it while it's here,' Sam answered with her usual laid back self.

'Okay,' Carly said with an ever bigger smile than the first one I saw she had tonight.

My chest couldn't have been heavier with every CAM antic I witnessed. Yes, if I fired your curiosity, I saw a little community sitting somewhere in vast cyberspace that actually shipped that pairing. It even hurt me to remember that I found it.

When I decided I couldn't take anymore, I stood up and announced my departure as if it weren't obvious as I headed for the door.

'I'm coming with you,' was the unexpected statement I heard from Sam, much to my disappointment. She was the last person I wanted to talk to. And to my further disappointment, Carly looked a tad more disappointed than I did. 'I think you should stay.'

'No, I still want to give you a weggie,' was her idea of an excuse.

She grabbed her bag and followed behind me as we walked out the door. As soon as we got in the hallway, I turned to her with a face that screamed at her to stop the torture.

'What?'

'Are you okay?' she asked, to my further shock.

'Yeah,' I lied. 'I'm just tired. I was working on a project.'

'Must've been really big, huh?'

If I wasn't too sad at that moment, I would've realized immediately that she was trying to comfort me. For some reason, I realized that she understood so much than she showed.

'Yeah, big enough it would break your heart,' I said, making it seem like a joke.

'Whoa,' Sam said as she feigned fear, clutching on her chest. 'Scawy, Fredalupe.'

We began laughing to ourselves lightly and as soon as the laughter died down, I just had to make her feel comfortable with the "Roses for Carly" thing. I couldn't help it.

'You know what? I think Carly didn't like the bouquet she got today,' I gulped right after saying that to ease the pain that just jolted.

'Really? I think it made her smile,' Sam said with genuine modesty I immediately noticed as she looked down at her shoes.

I knew it did. But I also knew that it was nothing like the smile she had when she saw the roses in her locker. I was beginning to wonder if that girl was psychic.

'Nah, you know what kind of flower exceeds that smile she had on when she saw the bouquet?'

'Perfect grammar and a normal Spencer?' Sam chuckled.

'Nope,' I disagreed. I shook my head with playful vigor. 'It's the kind of rose that she would find in her locker every morning.'

Sam couldn't hide the smile that was tugging at the corners of her lips. That was actually one of the most genuine smiles she's ever made, even if she tried to hold it in.

Actually feeling a little better despite the haunting bitterness, we both turned on our heels to go our separate ways. But, if it's Samantha Puckett you just had an interaction with, your assumptions will always end with the following words: or so I thought.

Before I could completely step into my apartment, I felt the garter of my underwear stretch a serious height, close to the middle of my back, and everything else was pain.


	6. Forgive Me for I Have Sinned

Author's Note (and note and note and note):

I think it's about time I say something or, rather, a lot of things.

First and foremost, I'm not snobbish. :P To be honest, the reason why I couldn't put up author notes before the chapter is I excite myself too much about making progress with the story. It excites me as much as the readers and fans of this corner I built in .

Well, yeah. Here goes.

Thanks so much to all of you who had been reading this. I am truly humbled. You people inspire me to continue this story. Honestly, this is the furthest chapter I got since 2006. I've had a serious case of writer's block. It was so serious that I forgot my login information. So, I decided to start over. Thanks again, guys. The more you read and the more I know that you enjoy what I write, I know I can finish.

And yeah, to those who almost find it annoying how roses are involved here, I would like to explain in advance. This story is actually inspired by Kiss from a Rose by Seal. It's helpful how I thought of the story because of the song. Every time I find myself in trouble while I write, all I have to do is listen to the song. Well, if someone great out there who could make a CAM video with the song, it will be great. It will be a constant reminder of my love for the pairing.

Anyway, on with the STORY!

Oh yeah, I don't own any of these characters, NICK does – so does the genius that is Dan Schneider.

* * *

I crossed out another day on the calendar.

I was still counting and I didn't know why. Maybe I was trying to find an outlet – a way for me to get over all this. It would be acceptable to say that I was torturing myself, but I want to believe that I was making a progress sketch – one way for me to see where I would finally stand in this picture. Hah, don't worry though. By this time I developed the thought that if I were to stand in the picture, it wouldn't be likely that it'd be beside Sam or Carly.

I haven't been hanging around them much lately, except for iCarly rehearsals and the actual web shows. Even when I was around them, I didn't interact with them as much as I used to. I couldn't get myself to be happy while they were playing like blind mice to the other. The lies started to suffocate me.

If I remember correctly, this would be the day the Roses-In-My-Locker drama officially stopped.

I was walking my way inside Ridgeway after parking my bike. I could see Carly and Sam from a distance. Sam didn't look too happy until Carly said something with a groan. After hearing whatever that was that she forced out of Shay, the blonde smiled widely and rushed inside the main building.

'Hey,' I greeted Carly.

'Hey,' she answered in return. She was still wearing an amused expression when she offered me a smile. 'I haven't been seeing you much lately. What's up?'

'The AV club is organizing an event,' I was lying, and I was getting better with it every day since day one.

Carly smiled again as we walked inside the building. She didn't even bother telling me how she was uninterested about the AV club event. She seemed to be having a really pleasant day. Well, that was until this idea suddenly got in her mind.

'Sam's mom didn't give her any lunch money yesterday and today,' she said with an expression I had a little difficulty making out. She seemed excited but worried in a way; she almost looked weary.

I noticed that her pace suddenly picked up as we headed for the lockers.

'Is that why she seemed excited?' I asked sarcastically.

Carly didn't answer. She seemed too preoccupied by something. I only understood what it was she had in mind when she immediately swung her locker open right after practically busting the padlock.

'Uh, Carly?'

She was just standing there, staring at her locker like something disappointed her gravely. I immediately assumed that it was the rose that upset her. Maybe there wasn't one. But I was wrong.

After about a couple of minutes, she turned to me. Although she had a rose in hand, the weary look she had earlier turned into a frown. A part of me wanted to scream a hoorah because it appeared that tacky rose thing was becoming a bore to her. But the "or so I thought" phrase was actually beginning to rub off on Carly Shay. It was no longer something that applied only to Puckett. Gee, if this were some reality TV show revolving around me, it would have been called Torturing Freddie: Mental Edition, and not to mention it would air on some lame ass channel like the Dingo.

'I'm treating Sam for breakfast,' was what she said. The frown was still there, and she only looked at the rose. Unlike me who only had "somebody, burn that rose and find Sam" in mind, whatever it was that ran in her head seemed to have upset her in a way that even she did not understand.

'And lunch?' I asked just to get her out of her reverie. She effectively snapped out of it and feigned a pleasant mood with another smile.

'Yes, and lunch,' she confirms.

Homeroom went by without me being too occupied. Although, I had written a little reminder at the top right corner of my notepad, "Lunch with Sam and Carly". There are things I wanted to clarify with Carly.

So, as soon as the session ended, we got ourselves a place at the cafeteria. Carly was playing with her fork, Sam was chomping down an entire tray of Cheese and Ham Sandwiches (boy, am I happy for her), while I, on the other hand, decided to cut the silence by asking Carly first.

'Hey, Carly,' I began, 'you seem to be bothered by that rose earlier.'

It worked. I didn't even need to look at Sam to know that she reacted. I noticed her suddenly fidget for a second. Carly looked up at me and shook her head.

'It's not the rose,' she answered with that fake smile still on. 'It's nothing.'

I nodded with lips pursed. Feeling that I was catching on, I turned my attention to Sam who resumed her championship match with Mr. Sandwich Stack.

'Sam, I heard your mom didn't give you anything since yesterday.'

She first threw me a nonchalant stare. After gulping down the screaming population of bread, cheese and ham molecules in her mouth, she finally retorted.

'She thinks I'm tough enough to live with that quarter she gave me the day before yesterday. But I got plans. Your wallet's never empty anyway.'

I rolled my eyes and immediately regretted it. Because I missed the response I expected from Carly.

Geez! All I wanted was a reaction from the brunette that will prove enough for me to conclude that she had an idea who her secret admirer was, enough for me to say that she might know it was actually Sam. And just because I was more annoyed with Sam's extra reaction than I was vigilant of Carly's expressions, I missed my chance. Thus, I just had a find a way for her to open up to me with something that might just be the most sensitive topic she'll ever reveal.

I had to wait until later that evening to ask her. I needed a Sam-less environment, and that was obviously Bushwell Plaza late at night.

I could still hear the TV after knocking at the Shay apartment door.

The door opened just enough for the person I was after to talk to me decently.

'Hey,' she greeted with a rather confused look on her face. 'Is there something you forgot? Anything you need?'

'Well, forgot – no, but the need part will be a yes.'

'Come on in then?' Carly offered.

'Nah, I just wanted to know if you're okay. I'm just bothered that you're bothered.'

'That's sweet, Freddie, but I'm okay.'

I can't blame my eyebrows for being more lively than I was right now. It shot up as soon as she said she was okay. As for Carly and I, we were only silent. For about a second, that is.

'Okay!' she blurted in a very Carly manner. 'Listen, Freddie. I'm sorry. I don't think it's something I would tell you.'

Bingo. Too bad I didn't have a Plan B. I had to improvise to get it out of her because I was just too close at that time. So, what I did, which I still couldn't believe I did until now, was I immediately grabbed the door knob on my end and I shut the door close between us.

'HEY!' I heard Carly scream at her end of the door. 'You could've chopped my fingers off!'

I cleared my throat but I didn't speak loudly enough for her to hear me just yet. I mimicked a couple of accents and only stopped when I found the one I liked – the one that would suit the situation, in my opinion, that is.

'Freddie?' she called.

'I-my name is not Freddie!' I said in a low voice and with a quality I would like to call the Italian accent. 'My name is…Father Fredowardo Benisoni! You can tell me what is bothering you…child?'

I cringed with disgust at my idea. Yeah, right. Nice going, child!

Chuckles on the other end. I heard chuckles on the other end of the door.

'Okay, Father Benisoni,' Carly imitated my Italian accent and lowered her voice like I did. She was still stifling laughter. 'Forgive me for I have sinned! Oh, come on Freddie, knock it off!'

I wasn't as good as Carly and Sam when it came to role plays but I was just so determined. Maybe, at that time, I wanted to set myself free at a certain degree as well. Sure, a part of me was still the hopeful one, but I just had to cut myself some slack, and a definite answer from the Shay side of the cylinder would do it.

'That is no way to talk to a priest, young lady,' I continued to speak under the God Father accent I chose.

Carly sighed. The door knob moved. It seemed she let go of it. Thinking that she had left, I immediately grabbed the door knob on my side again to open it.

'It's alright,' Carly reassured me. 'I'm still here…Father.'

I noticed how the door moved the slightest toward my end. I looked down to see Carly's shadow from the slit under the door. It seemed to have thickened, like Carly was actually closer to the opening below. She probably sat down.

'Okay,' I was smiling by then. I slowly let go of the door knob and sat down on the floor, facing the door. 'Tell me what's bothering you.'

'I lied…Father,' she was doing good – only that she sounded a little annoyed at the "Father" part of the statement. If I knew better, she was already rolling her eyes. 'That's what I did wrong.'

I stayed silent – a cue for her to go on.

'I was bothered by the rose. Or maybe, scratch that, the person who keeps sending me those roses,' she paused and sighed. I didn't pressure her. She was obviously still trying to adjust with the whole tell Freddie thing.

'I don't know why I have to feel this way. I mean, there is not a girl that wouldn't love the thought of being admired, but I'm starting to feel the need to know who this person is.'

'This person must really care for you,' I said with my Italian accent all gone.

'I know. But if this person cares enough, why wouldn't she introduce herself already and stop this because it's starting to feel like a game!' she sighed again. But this time, it was out of frustration. Not because she was still feeling a little awkward explaining herself to me.

'What if there are things this person doesn't want to change? What if this person feels that there is something about the status quo that is too valuable to change?' I suggested.

It was true. Sam hated people and Carly was the only thing in this world that didn't make her feel too hateful. To be honest, from the first time I saw them together, I knew that there was something they had that nobody can take away or even tweak a little.

We stayed silent. And the silence was long enough for us both to think of what I said. I placed my hand on the door, as if to touch her.

Slowly, the fingers of my hand I had positioned in front of me began to curl into a fist, and finally, I removed my hand from the door; I let go.

'Father?' Carly called. I looked up to listen. 'There's this second lie.'

'Yes?'

'When I said I was clueless about my secret admirer,' she began, and with one last sigh, she finally spoke up. 'I had an idea. That's the truth.'

I smiled. Something hit me then. It wasn't just Sam who was afraid of the change I was talking about earlier. It wasn't just Carly either; it was actually all three of us.

'I think you weren't lying.'

Carly would've looked up if I was seeing her. Obviously though, I could only hear her sigh or shuffle. At that point, she only stayed silent. There was no sign of motion either. But I knew she was still there, so I continued.

'I think you were merely hoping,' I finished.

'Hoping it was Sam?' she said with a voice I barely heard.

But my heart heard more than my ears did. It seemed as if I was expecting that answer more than she even did. Carly may have been smart and witty. She wasn't careful though, because when she initially ranted about the secrecy of the relationship she wanted revealed, she slipped and used one simple pronoun that gave her own feelings away – _she_.


	7. Miranda Cosgrove

I'm sorry I was gone a while. I had a lot of trouble with the only person capable of giving me a lot of trouble in a minute – the kind of trouble that is like writer's block with a cherry-of-the-devil on top. Anyway, nothing's fixed, but I'm still writing for this bunch.

Geez. If there's anything good with heartbreaks, that would be "miserable me", and "miserable me" writes a lot. Well, here we go.

Again, I deeply thank each and every one of you who gave this a chance.

* * *

Last night, I knew I had to hug her and tell her everything will be okay because I decided that I will find a way to straighten things out between the two. I may not be the best person to do that, many people have witnessed my attempt in fixing a Carly-Sam fight live on the web – yeah, it wasn't pretty.

This is different though, this isn't any ordinary Carly-Sam feud – heck, it's not even a feud. Or maybe, let's just pray it won't turn into one because it's going to be the ugliest among the ugliest Carly-Sam feuds.

Nonetheless, before she said anything about going to bed last night, I slid a little smiley face I drew on a piece of paper under the door that divided us. I just wanted her to feel that I wasn't judging her; that I was with her in this.

And yes, that is exactly the reason why I ended up sitting on the Shay couch the morning after, staring blankly at the TV. Whatever happened to all that resolve? Heh, don't ask me. I'll get there.

Sam was noisily munching on pop corn as she watched with me. She was mumbling something about some actress from the show we were watching. I already lost track of the plot of the episode and the only thing that hogged my attention back to the TV were the repetitive "Megan!" lines.

I sighed deeply. Sam's head whipped up and she immediately turned to me.

'How could you even,' she imitated an annoying version of my sigh and went on rambling, 'at the sight of Miranda Cosgrove?'

'I don't know,' I began, 'Yeah, she's amazing but nothing like Carly. Don't you think, Sam?'

Sam looked at me like I knew some rumor she didn't want me knowing. I turned to see how she took my question. Oh yes, Samantha Puckett, vengeance is sweet when it nears the grounds of foul play. I gave her one of those I-know-things look that Megan Parker usually gave Drake and Josh.

After a couple of minutes of not being able to retort with anything, she began filling her mouth with more pop corn. She was probably trying to keep herself from saying anything else. I, on the other hand, should be ready for anything she might pull later. Because that's Sam I just cornered, I'm sure to suffer later.

'But Miranda is hot, yeah,' I said, ending Sam's discomfort. 'Right, Carly?'

'Nah,' Sam dismissed the thought by waving at me. 'Carly thinks she isn't a handful.'

I was already looking over at Carly, who didn't respond at all. I was trying to engage Shay into this ever so discrete fray to get her to interact with Sam for about hours now. She was awfully silent, or maybe pretending-to-be-busy silent. She was sitting in the kitchen, face behind her laptop. Oh and because I'm Freddie Benson, I happened to be good at stealing glances at her. That's why a certain tally I had in my head reached that little symbol mankind has come to call "infinity"; Carly stealing glances at Sam actually exceeded the number of glances I could ever "steal" from the younger Shay in a day.

I decided to stand up and come over to where she was, leaving Sam to gawk at her little celebrity crush. I used to think she watched that show because of Drake Bell, who had been in her locker for as long as I can remember.

'So,' I settled for the chair across the table from where she sat, 'are you going to sit and keep gawking at her? Or do you have any other plans?'

She made a little guilty snort and burst laughing nervously.

'Of course I have plans!' and came another set of – let's see, what do we call it? Yeah, I guess this will do - laughter.

'Let me guess, does it happen to be "Still Gawking at Sam"? You're free to correct me if I'm wrong.'

'Okay,' her seemingly rehearsed laughter stopped in an instant and she finally looked at me with clear frustration in her eyes, 'what do I do?'

What the hell? I was honestly lost with the question. If Carly Shay didn't know what to do, then right back at her – what do I do? I don't blame her though. If she was this lost, maybe whatever she felt was genuine.

I felt my brow crease in thought. I sighed in frustration. I never knew that hooking people up was harder than getting yourself hooked.

'Listen, Carly,' I placed my hand on top of hers in an attempt to comfort her, 'you shouldn't be too worried. I know something that would surely cheer you up. But hey, it isn't my business to say it. I believe it's for Sam to say.'

She paused.

I tiny chill creeped up my neck as I noticed something new. For a second, she had Sam's "Momma likey" look on. Thank God it was shortlived though. Her expression fell once more. 'Listen, I'm not sure I want this.'

'What do you mean you're not sure you want it? Hello?' I was exasperated that I actually said it out loud – loud enough for Sam to get her eyes off Miranda Cosgrove. Carly tugged at my ear and glared at me.

'Have you seen yourself lately, Carly Shay?' I asked as I rubbed my pained ear. 'I can't just sit around and let you regret this someday.'

'But what if I get hurt? What if I'm wrong? What if she doesn't want it? Won't I regret that?'

I held her hand tightly.

'You can't be wrong this time. Trust me.'

I was confident when I told her that. After all, Sam was caught red-handed first. I mean literally, and with the thorns, petals and notes kind of red.

She offered me a smile before turning her attention to Sam. I felt all sorts of anxieties stirring in her mind. But when she looked over at the indifferent Sam, there was a glint in her eyes that would topple all possible denials. This was a look that not even the overrated Robert Pattinson would get. This was the look that could make any boy, who loved Carly Shay all his life, decide that it's best to give up on her – not because you'd lose the fight for her heart, but because there would never even be a fight.

I returned her smile and tilted my head to Sam's direction.

'Go ahead.'

She heaved a breath and suddenly perked up, kicking it off with a, 'oh, what the heck!'

She stood up looking all determined and headed to the living room.

Or so I thought.

She never even got to the third step and she immediately returned to her seat.

'I can't do it!'

Phew. I rested my head on my hand, thinking that this would take more hard work that I even found myself looking up for divine intervention. I mean, who wouldn't sacrifice whatnots for divine intervention? Exhibit A: Carly Shay, sitting all flustered and frustrated on her chair and appears to be at the verge of chewing on the hem of her top. And, Exhibit B: Samantha Puckett scrubbing something off her foot with a fork. Ugh. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. That exact image made Carly Shay all flustered.


	8. A Light Hits the Gloom on the Grey

This was another number I crossed out on my calendar. I never even knew why I still counted. I heaved a breath as I secured the cap on the marker I held.

'Rock and roll,' I said as I looked at the date once more. I couldn't be wrong.

This day was special. Well, not for me, but for Carly and Sam. I prepared today just for them. If Carly refused to go anywhere exclusively with Sam, I just had to meddle. But actually, she didn't exactly say that she didn't want to be in one room with just Sam in it. I actually had a conversation with her about that discomfort she was beginning to feel. I think it went like something like this,

'Oh, I don't know, Freddie. Maybe I'm just smitten and I can't stop looking at her. _And then_, if she returns that look, thinking that I might have been taking wacko pills, there's just this ninety-eight percent chance I'd be kissing her! If I kiss her, she'd go, "MOMMA'S WEIRDED OUT!" _and then_ she'll forever be disgusted with me, _and then_ I'd lose my best friend!'

I blinked and nearly shrugged my shoulders.

'And then?' was all I managed to say. Believe me, I confused myself as well.

Mind you, that was her sass on overdrive. If you were like me, you will understand that as a Limit Break – the reason why she's whipped up is because she's been blaming me for over an hour about her suddenly activated hormones before she went with the "And Then" monologue.

'Seriously?' she asked, narrowing her eyes at me. Geez, woman. This is one of the reasons why you and Sam are actually meant for each other. You have your own language.

No sighs, no furrowing brows. Yep. At that moment, there were no usual signs of frustration. Why? Oh, I don't know. Is it because she's so damn frustrated that even her reflexes took a break?

She walked over to the beanies and propped herself on one.

'Soooo, ninety-eight percent, huh,' I began as I made my way to the beanie next to her and settled myself comfortably on it, 'what explains the remaining two percent?'

'You wouldn't know what that is,' she mumbled under her breath. 'You're not a girl.'

'Are you?' I asked and she immediately hit me. 'Ow! That was so, so…Sammish of you!'

There goes another hit.

'Ow!'

I rubbed the part of my shoulder that felt like a fruit that took a pretty bad fall. But I couldn't help noticing the smile that she was trying to hold in. Why was it so easy for her to change from one mood to another with the mere mention of Sam's name?

Again, I couldn't help it. I just needed to prove that previous theory. So, I went closer and whispered her favorite word, 'Sam?'

Then, there went the last and harder hit on my shoulder.

'OW!'

See what I mean?

Anyway, back to that little setup I worked on. Well, you see, I'm not as creative as Sam or Carly. So, you have to cut me some slack if my way to get them in the same room is rather lame. BUT! I am quite proud of my way to let them STAY in one room.

I raised my hand to look at the time. 4:00pm. I was right on schedule. I sat on my bed and turned my laptop on. A window that contained a video streaming of the studio appeared on my desktop. I keyed in a couple more buttons and four other windows containing different views of the studio appeared.

Nothing should go wrong under my watch.

About five minutes later, Carly entered the studio through the glass door and paced around. I could see her fish her phone out of her pocket. Apparently, she was making a call, and after that expected vibrate on my bedside desk, I had to pick it up to stall her.

'¡Hola, señorita!'

'What up with the Spanish? And where are you? You're supposed to show me that video.'

'I'm coming right up the elevator so just wait for me okay?'

'Okay,' she dropped the line from her end as soon as she heard the elevator move. She patiently waited for the metal door to slide open. She appeared to be expecting me, which probably explains why she glared and whispered something that I could've sworn was "Freddie", when Sam came rushing out of the machine.

'Where is she?' Sam said in between breaths.

'Where is she?' Carly repeated rather amused.

'Miranda Cosgrove!' Sam screamed, grabbing Carly on both shoulders. 'Nub-nub said she'd be here for a Christmas Ham endorsement!'

Yep. That was my way to get Sam into the room without any delays at all. I just had to bait her with two things that can actually get her excited: Miranda Cosgrove and Ham.

Carly's hand went for a slap on her own forehead, and I could've sworn she mouthed another "Freddie". Before she could get any chance to call me, I picked up my phone again and turned it off.

I was whipped up just as they were but my excitement died down when I noticed I couldn't hear any of what they were saying anymore.

'Shoot! The mics!'

Knowing they might have figured it out by now, I pressed a little red button on a tiny remote. This shut the elevator power down. I have to thank Jeremy/Germy for that. Then, following that will be a couple of buttons on my keyboard that made the lock on the glass door click – again, just couple of things that Germy taught me.

I fidgeted around my bed searching for the microphone level control. After about five minutes, which almost seemed like forever for me, I forced my attention back to the streams in front of me. Lip reading could've been something I asked somebody to teach me if I knew a screw up like this would happen.

Carly turned around and began fiddling with her hands. Sam was shrugging and shaking her head.

'Aw geez!'

I ran to my drawers and snatched the nearest speakers I could get. The only audio I could rely on at the moment will be the ones the camera is picking up. I plugged the speakers in and turned the volume up to maximum.

'Come on.'

I was already holding the speakers to both my ears to at least get a hint of whatever it was they're talking about.

'What would make you think that, Carls?' Sam said amused. She threw Carly a brief hug and did the pointy-finger-poking combo on her shoulder.

'Psh. How could she act all cool? What the hell did I miss?'

'Yeah, I'm sorry,' Carly said in between chuckles. 'I'm just worried, you know.'

'So, are you okay?'

Sam brought a hand to Carly's cheek and pulled her in a hug. The brunette only nodded.

Something was wrong. I didn't take a genius to figure that out. I put down the speakers I was practically squeezing my face with. I brought my hand back to my touch pad and double-clicked the third camera window that had a closed up shot of Sam's shoulder – the one that Carly rested her head on.

The window widened throughout my screen, and after seeing how she looked like, I could only wish that I could take her pain instead, because it's the kind of pain that would make anybody else squirm. I sat back, thinking about how a girl like her had to endure this kind of pain just because the world told everybody else that every girl belonged to a certain guy. That's a lie, and I was jerk for believing at one point in my life that this was true.

They stayed like that, and I only confirmed the conclusion that Carly didn't say anything about how she truly felt; because if she had confessed, she would've cried or Sam would've been jumping with joy.

That was when I remembered Sam. I widened the second camera only to see her wearing an expression I never saw before. Or maybe this expression wasn't worn at all – THIS is Sam.

She was smiling – not the kind of smile that she had on when she had something in mind that would torture me. I discovered a side of Sam that only Carly got for herself. She gets to have the Sam that would hold you and not just wish your pain was theirs, but would share the pain you felt, even take most of it to herself.

And that's when I decided that these girls were even stronger than they seemed; they were even stronger than I could ever be. I brought my hand on top of my laptop and shut it close. I understood many things through facial expressions. But at that moment, I understood their entire world with just that hug.

Long before either of them even realized, they already belonged to each other.


	9. Prescription: Sam

Author's Note:

Thank you so much to all of you who have been reading, reviewing or reading and reviewing. Thy shall continue this. I am confident that I could finish it. This pairing led me to write the furthest I could after almost 5 years. Man. I just love them. Never have I seen chemistry so good that even my 11 year old cousin thought they looked better together than with any other.

Oh and yeah, I don't own anything. Except for the plot, that is.

ON TO THE STORY!

* * *

Have you ever come across that really cheesy scene somewhere in a chick flick that told everybody else that one person cannot be complete without the other half? You know, that kind of scene that either shows Freddy Prinze Jr. and maybe Rachel Leigh-Cook suffering some condition that translates extreme discomfort all because they are keeping themselves from each other.

As cheesy as it may be, I think, at one point of this calendar-marking habit I developed during the 156-day emotional roller coaster ride, I began believing it.

And by "IT", I mean the condition. I believe it's what the great love gurus have come to call as "Lovesickness". Yes, that's right, Lovesickness.

You see, it has basic symptoms that actually match non-terminal diseases that people commonly get when their bodies try to get rid of bacteria. Nerded out? Sorry. There definitely is no better way to explain this if one doesn't qualify as a love guru.

So, the symptoms are loss of energy, loss of appetite and the inevitable coughing and fever combo. All of which have exhibited themselves in the persona of Carly Shay.

After the little setup I prepared for the two, I had to wait for Sam to leave the Shay apartment before I could get the details from Carly. Being the little Freddie with a changed resolve, I peeked through our peep hole. Believe me when I say it's for a different cause.

Anyway, a few minutes after I saw Puckett walk past our door and heard her head down the stairs, I went for a few hesitant knocks on the Shay door.

Carly appeared by the doorway not even a minute after. She seemed to have taken Sam to the door.

I stood there looking at symptom number one. She wasn't even looking at me when she pulled the door open. She was just staring at the floor, appeared to be deep in thought. I had originally prepared myself to ask her if she was able to confess, but I just went for this instead, 'I'm guessing you didn't tell her.'

She nodded and finally looked at me.

'Are you coming in?'

I only shook my head and bid her goodnight so she could rest up. I wanted to comfort her badly and pull her in an embrace to make her feel at least a pinch better. But I knew anyway that no one would be better at that than Sam. Actually, at this point, only Sam can do that.

The morning after, mom and I offered Carly a ride to school but Spencer insisted that he took us instead, since he felt very worried about his sister. He mentioned that Carly looked paler than usual before she covered it up with makeup. He even prepared a healthy lunch pack for her so she wouldn't have to go through the cafeteria hassle at noon.

Throughout the day, she wasn't even writing as quickly as she did during History and didn't get to at least level one sass during English. In simpler terms, she didn't smile, didn't speak or move from her chair. The only time I remembered her moving was when Sam offered her turkey bacon. She didn't have that much of energy to sneak chews but she seemed content doing it. After her first bite, she finally smiled…at Sam.

I thought that as long as Sam tagged along, she would be okay. I was right at that; Carly was doing pretty much alright until Mrs. Puckett came and took the materialized form of her happiness home.

With Puckett gone, I knew I had to check on Carly.

'You alright?' I asked.

She stifled a cough as she nodded and just waved her hand, signaling me to go home as well. I just raised an eyebrow at her. I wouldn't buy it.

'I'm fine,' she said after clearing her throat a couple of times.

'Apparently so,' I said sarcastically, 'maybe now isn't the best time for her to know, right? You'll get your moment.'

'That's not it,' she answered. 'I know you were watching.'

I nodded slowly in guilt.

'I think you should understand by now…what makes it so hard.'

I wanted to dispute her statement but I couldn't blame her. Whatever they have at present was too beautiful that she didn't want to risk it going downhill.

A couple of days passed and things were going pretty normal for the two – they behaved like Sam and Carly, the crazy duo I know. But as for Carly sans the Sam, it wasn't too pretty. Sam was beginning to notice the brunette's coughing, which the latter only passed off as caused by a slight sore throat.

The next night then, I came to the Shay apartment to return Carly's notebooks, which I only borrowed to get an excuse to visit during the late hours.

The door wasn't locked so I just entered, and I immediately regretted it. I couldn't help but reach for that part in my chest that was closest to my heart upon seeing her.

For a couple of minutes, she had her head bowed and she was holding the countertop to keep herself up. But upon noticing me, she immediately straightened and smiled at me.

'Did you forget something?'

I couldn't get the frown that creased my features to just go away. She was pretending and I wanted her comfortable. But as much as I didn't want to bug her, I just had to meddle.

'Don't force it, Carly,' I said as I shook my head. 'Please.'

'Force what?'

She was still smiling and it didn't make me happy like it used to.

'This whole hiding thing isn't such a good idea anymore,' I groaned.

I placed her notebooks on the countertop, took her by the arm and led her to the couch. I couldn't help but sense how high her temperature was when I touched her.

'Freddie, I just caught this,' she said, shaking her head and made it appear like she was amused by chuckling. 'This should go away after taking a few meds, okay?'

'I'll get my mom to have a look at you,' I said, disregarding her statement.

I despised each and every idea that leaned to this strategy of "not letting things change", but I wasn't in their place and never could I get a complete understanding of what they are going through.

I could only hope that my mom had medicine for people who are experiencing a terrible degree of Lovesickness – that type of Lovesickness that says you're not sick of love or sick because you're in love. It was the type that makes you sick because every fiber in your body wants to be free from the little dungeon you created to keep yourself from loving someone more than you should.

'Freddie, Spencer's here. I should be fine.'

I was already at the door when she spoke up. I shut the door a little harder than I should out of exasperation and turned to face her.

'I don't think anything will be fine until you settle this with Sam,' I sighed. 'Let me help you if it would at least make you better.'

At that point, it was her turn to sigh. She fished her phone out of her pocket and stared at it. I didn't have to guess what or who her wallpaper was.

'It's her birthday tomorrow.'

I smiled weakly at her. I really didn't know what to say anyway. I walked back to the couch and sat beside her with my elbows resting on my knees as I twiddled thumbs.

'What do you want to do?'

'I don't really know,' she said, resting her head on my shoulder. 'But I did prepare a little surprise for her.'

'What'd you get her?'

'Prepare, Freddie. Not get.'

She handed her phone to me. And maybe she meant to show me the note there. It was a clean and organized schedule of everything that needed to be done for Sam's birthday bash. Everything was there. But all I saw was yet another translation of the love they never got to maximize.


	10. Cinderella

I actually prepared myself for anything that might have happened.

Before I collected ten percent of the bravery to approach her, I had to secure all possible pressure points and I created a mental image of me wrapping my guts with duct tape.

And so, I went for it.

'Sam?'

When she looked up at me, I immediately forgot what I wanted to say. I have never seen her this bored before. Well, not really "all" that bored. In fact, she wasn't "entirely" bored because she may have been eighty percent hurt and twenty percent bored. I'm no Carly, who reads Sam best, but this time around, she appeared to be too "out of sync" to hide her disappointment.

She looked for over a minute and I still didn't say anything. This was the point where I should have put the mental duct tape into use and have taken a Puckett Blow.

But I didn't.

'So, are you just gonna stand there, Freddork?'

Okay. At least she was at least a percentage Sam. I breathed heavily and held out my hand to her. She looked from my hand to my face. I couldn't help but notice how she cringed more at my face than she did at my hand. Hey, I don't think I'm that bad.

'So,' I began. 'Care for a dance, birthday girl?'

I just had to wait for the music to go slow. It was officially past three hours before that happened and I just couldn't sit around and wait anymore. It was a good thing T-Bo decided that most of the people they have invited over at the Groovy Smoothie for Sam's birthday bash should have been tired after three hours of perky dancing.

Sam only grunted as she set the smoothie she held on the long table.

If this was a birthday bash for Samantha Puckett and you had Carly Shay prepare everything for it, then expect a long table that Sam will refuse to wander far from. It was filled with all the stuff she liked – from the crispiest of fried chicken to the meatiest of pizzas…well, only Carly-less.

But Sam was apparently not happy. Probably too unhappy that she actually got to her feet and to the bigger space in the area with me. She was groaning most of the time but at least she went as far as place both hands on my nape and essentially got to dance.

I had Carly to thank. It was her little scheme to arrive later the night so she could prepare for this best. But as Sam and I got past three minutes without hurting each other, we both realized that it was actually already late – too late, in fact.

'Where the hell is Carly?' Sam said and I almost thought it was my mind given life and a girl's vocal chords. 'Didn't she tell you anything about arriving later than late?'

I furrowed my brows as I began to worry. But I just had to trust Carly for a few more minutes and try to fish something out of the blonde.

'Uh, I'm not sure,' I said, just to close the topic. 'Hey, Sam.'

She replied with a low uninterested hum.

'I was just thinking about a couple of things.'

'Is this food?' She asked and I immediately regretted my choice of words as her eyes narrowed. This very moment can get ugly anytime I said the wrong thing. 'It better be something I'm interested in or you die. I swear it. What things?'

That was when I decided that she was really upset. Genuinely. Well, maybe if I said Carly's name first, she would be more forgiving.

'Carly.'

I felt her stop on her feet for a second, but she continued as if she tried to deny she was affected by the mere mention of her best friend's name.

'I know, Sam.'

That was very short but I knew then that she understood me completely. I hinted many times that I knew how she felt about Carly but she had only been literally reacting violently, which happens all the time and even made things more confusing.

'What do you want to do about it? Does it stop here?'

Sam shook her head, sighed heavily and just stopped where she stood last.

'What's wrong?'

'You know what?' she said with her voice shaken at one point. She drew her hand from my nape. 'It stops by itself.'

'Sam.'

I reached for her and held her gently by the arm. But yeah, I'm still very cautious when it comes to things like these. Without another word, she walked past my shoulder.

Well. She had been waiting for three hours. Most of the guests had gone home too. I didn't really expect it, but I, Freddie Benson, just found himself very disappointed at Carly Shay. I shook my head and fished my cellphone out of my pocket. My fingers smashed for the name of that V.I.P, who was apparently M.I.A. at the moment.

With my phone against my ear, I shuffled at different directions. I was probably hoping Carly might have been under the table, hiding and would pop out of the cake (which is insane because the cake was way too small for even her head to fit in) or maybe by the door and didn't have the braves to put her confession even at least into commencement.

I was disappointed. Really disappointed.

But only until I realized that I was already past ten attempts to get an answer from my phone contact labeled Carly Shay.

I stared at the "Calling" sign that remained on the screen. I felt a jolt of panic as I remember how Carly was still sick. She's been sick for three nights now.

I went for another attempt and held my breath as I prayed she would just answer the freaking call and tell us she was just Carlifying herself with heavy dosages.

I finally stopped calling her number and went for Spencer's.

'Hello, Spencer?' I said after hearing his overly perky voice on the other line. 'Spencer, where is Carly?'

'I thought she was with you and Sam?'

I froze at that. Spencer was even silent for minute as well.

'Hold on. Hold on. Oh, shoot. I'm out to get Carly some meds. You're not joking, are you?'

'Why would I joke about something like that?' I hissed angrily.

'Oh, no. I didn't want her to go to Sam's birthday bash but she bashed the hell out of me and made me feel guilty by looking all sick and pouty!'

I didn't even listen to rest of the point. Spencer himself sounded like he was running midsentence as his side of the line gradually became shaky and airy.

I wasn't the type of person to curse, but I couldn't recall how many different curses I mumbled as I frantically searched for a sign of Sam. She had to know. From one corner of the room to another, I turned and looked but I couldn't see her.

Thinking she might have been in the restroom, I grabbed the nearest girl I saw and left a message for Sam to just head to the Shay apartment as soon as possible.

It wasn't the best feeling in the world. The thought of any sort of accident happening to Carly gave me the feeling like my duct-taped guts were suddenly being de-duct-taped. On top of that, the thought of Sam finding out that Carly was hurt and I took part in her scheme-gone-wrong made me want to spend the little savings I had to re-hire Gun Smoke.

My feet were pounding the pavement as I broke for a run back to Bushwell Plaza. I knew the feeling I had was growing and slowly grew out of its shell, turning into a mix of fear, regrets and the sickest of all worries I ever felt.

After several minutes that felt like an hour to me, I finally arrived at the lobby. Normally, I would not understand what Lewbert would be screaming about when I get past him, but this time, I never even heard any of what he was saying. I could only see his mouth open. Probably not just him; everything was in mute; everything was out of my mind now. All that I could see were several situations I would usually lock in a little chest in my head that I labeled "The Unthinkable". What was even worse was I was beginning to form the image of a little note materializing on top of the chest. It read, "Watch your back. Love, Sam."

I shook that out of my head though. Carly needed to be found.

As soon as I got to our hall, I began rubbing my shoulder in advance for the pain it's going to go through. I took about three steps back and charged for the door.

And I immediately regretted it.

The door wasn't locked. Thus, I only ended up hurting myself as I hit the floor. I turned to see that the chain lock had been split in half. It was already broken before I even thought of breaking it.

Panic took over.

From where I was now sitting, I could see Carly's bag and stuff sprawled near the door. I stood and staggered my way to the second floor. My heart was throbbing even worse than the part of my shoulder that hit the ground bad.

'Carly!'

I was already praying and ready to sacrifice anything in exchange for her safety, and thus, for Sam's happiness.

I pushed her room door open, and like water gradually going down the drain, my worries were slowly washed away as I took in the image in front of me.

A realization hit me. I might have underestimated both Carly and Sam.

'Shh!'

This was the first and probably the only time that I didn't shudder in faer at Sam's glare. She placed a finger before her lips, signaling me to shush.

'You'll wake her!' she hissed.

Carly was lying peacefully on her lap, covered in sheets. She was just like sleeping beauty. Her hair was done and her make-up was probably the best I've seen her wear. It wasn't extravagant – something Sam would be comfortable seeing. I didn't need to guess that she was Happy-Birthday-Sam dressed under those sheets for she was still wearing her shoes.

'Sammy?' she called as her hand went out of the covers, searching for Sam's.

'Momma's right here, cupcake,' Sam assured her. She held Carly's searching hand and used the other to play with the brunette's hair.

'Don't leave, okay?'

'I won't.'

I finally felt myself let out the breath I held in my throat since Sam shushed me. My chest was oddly still throbbing though. Probably because of the gasp I held there too long. Or maybe, it had something to do with the tears that threatened to fall. I pulled the sleeve of my shirt and immediately wiped them away. I never expected that.

'Sammy?'

I looked up to see Carly smiling softly.

'I'm here, Carlotta.'

'I'm sorry I didn't make it,' Sam merely chuckled at that. She brushed stray locks away from Carly's face and placed a kiss on her forehead. 'It's almost midnight. Carlotta didn't make it for you.'

The blonde kept her head an inch distant from her best friend's and said, 'But it's not midnight yet, right?'

She rested her chin lightly on the younger Shay's forehead. The brunette sighed in comfort and reached for Sam's cheek.

'Happy birthday, Samster.'

'Yeah, it's my birthday alright.'

I figured that this might not be the time for things to be confronted. Not with Carly like this. Not just "like this" as in "sick" like this, but, more importantly, "like this" as in "even more delighted than any Disney character ever got on her happy ever after" like this.

I sighed slowly and settled on the couch by the awesome ship coffee table. As much as I was feeling content for them because everything was temporarily fine, I chose to stay. So in case Carly needed anything, I could get it for her and Sam wouldn't have to wander far from her.

I smiled at their peaceful image. With that, I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket and decided that it was time to give Spencer a call. He must be worried sick.


	11. Compromises? Really?

Really. Gals, guys and the members of the LGBTQI, I'm sorry I disappeared for a while. The holidays kind of got me too carried away. Anyway, I'll shut up now and here we go.

* * *

Define a compromise.

A compromise is a point of agreement between two parties that originally clashed. We only arrive at compromises when we sacrifice something. Like how some women, who are both fans of great food and a good figure, would sacrifice hours of slacking and turn them into strenuous work-outs. Or like how I would sacrifice the daylight hours I supposedly have for my cameras and just turn them into Gotta-Hook-Them-Up hours, and then late at night, I would spend a couple more hours up for my Sony and Nikon babies.

Well? Phew. It had been weeks now since the birthday incident. We were all thankful that Sam decided to go ditch her birthday bash to look for Carly, else no one would've figured out that she fainted on her way out. Who the hell would go overboard despite their sickness to make the Samster happy? Lo and behold, the one and only, Carly Shay.

Phew again! So far, everything seemed to be alright between the two. In fact, things were going too nicely that it makes me sick. I can't believe how they are still forcing this friendship thing to stay. I still remember how they justified it.

Sam…

'Well, you see, Fredbag,' she said in between ham bites 'do you remember that night I found her on the floor? If I had been Sam the lovesick puppy, I wouldn't have walked into the apartment; I would have decided to run a picket line and a boycott Shay for forgetting my birthday.'

Really. I would like to believe otherwise. Stop pulling my leg!

Carly…

'Well, you see, Freddie,' she said with her attention fully focused on mine as she tried to prove a point, 'it's wonderful how we can be together without holding any pressure with each other.'

Really. I would like to believe that the relationship you two have is practically perfect that it wouldn't hurt to take it up a notch. Stop it! Both of you! I wish I could just say this.

I. JUST. CAN'T. TAKE. IT.

Sure, they can pretend to be friends all they want. But the longer they put this off, more people are beginning to see where this friendship just. Went. Wrong.

Like this one time at history class, our demon of a teacher was babbling about banned homosexual relationships during the earlier years. Normally, we would all be panicking to scribble notes for this guy's class, but, believe me when I say it's easier to give up. So, we developed this new normal; we would completely ignore him. At this particular topic though, everybody else was looking at Carly and Sam.

So that's history class down. It's only a matter of time before the whole school would gossip about this.

And, also, there was this other time at Carly's. We had just finished waiting for that scrumptious looking turkey that Spencer stuffed with all the herby goodness. It was obviously still scorching hot but Sam began poking at it probably half a second after it was settled on the table. Thus, she got herself first degree burns on all ten fingertips.

Peaceful turkey eating isn't the ending of this little story; it's how Spencer looked when he saw Carly feeding Sam. Carly would do something like this even when they were little. But in this particular context, Spencer appeared to have found it out of the ordinary. And that's Spencer; he's supposedly someone who knew Carly better than I did.

I know. I know. This is just too much. All the lies, the pretense, it was sickly sweet. So, I just had to speak to her about it.

'No, Freddie,' the brunette of the duo said as she pulled her locker open. 'I will not make that kind of compromise.'

I sighed in frustration.

'Why not?'

'Because,' it was her turn to sigh. 'I said this before already, for over a hundred times. So, let me rephrase this in this "present context" of yours. If there is anything I'm willing to sacrifice to get to a compromise, that would be this-this heart wrenching feeling in my chest. I can't stain what we have.'

I raised an eyebrow. I was obviously trying to show her how unconvinced I was. She opened her mouth again in her defense.

'I will get over this. Like how I got over Griffin, Jake or Adam!'

'But she's Sam; any of those you've mentioned aren't anywhere near her,' I rubbed my right hand on my face in a tad more frustration before I rested it on the frame of her opened locker to keep her from avoiding the conversation. 'It's impossible for you to stay friends with her without crashing and burning in the long run.'

'Freddie, can't you see how great things have been going lately?'

'Really? By great you mean you turning down all those guys who didn't even get as far as "hi, Carly"?'

She just shook her head at this. Carly was a bad liar, and what I said was obviously true because she didn't want to pursue it. She continued stuffing books in her locker, while I thought of something to say.

'Really? You know,' I began again, 'one day, something or someone will take away one of you. I don't want any of you to regret anything.'

She sighed once more and faced me. 'What if I did pursue her, and the only feeling of regret I'd get is why I even thought of this because I might end up hurting her. I don't want to hurt her.'

We both went silent again. I just stood there leaning against her locker with my hand supporting me. I shook my head. While I practically begged the heavens on-the-spot to give me miracle to solve this little mess, something at the further hallway caught my eye. It wasn't the most beautiful sight, especially if I were Carly right now.

Sam and I are classmates in at least three classes, and Chemistry is one of those. From where I stood, I could see Sam in a rather energetic-er…enthusiastic conversation with that Cindy girl we knew from Chemistry class. If I recall correctly, Sam mentioned some girl who had been bugging her to no end at Chem after she clarified that she was not dating Carly. I really didn't pay attention to that statement and she only mentioned it once!

Well, sometimes… the heavens work fast.

'You know,' Carly said, turning to me, looking very apologetic. 'I think things are cool the way they are. I mean, come on, do you really think me or Sam having a boyfriend would destroy our friendship? We're _waaaay_ past that.'

'Really,' I said in an already uninterested tone. I was still looking at the Sam-and-Cindy thing over at the other side of the hallway. 'Really.'

I could almost hear the gears turning in my head. I smiled. I, being the clueless little boy I am about homosexual relationships, I just had to look it up in the web. I remember reading this article about the women type of a homosexual relationship having more issues if the other half was linked to another girl; guys were not really much of an issue to most.

'I can see that you're probably more comfortable now with being a future loveless hermit or a nun,' I said, while I had the-check-your-King move prepared. 'But what do you think of Sam? Have you ever asked her about it?'

'No, I mean, I can always find the time to ask her.'

'Really?

My smile even widened. 'Why don't you ask her now? That "time" you were just saying? I think that would be now.'

Her brows furrowed in confusion.

'Why so?'

I used my lips to point where Sam and that Cindy stood. Carly followed where I pointed and, judging how her shoulders went down, I could already tell she was upset.

'So,' I smirked. 'Still think things are COOL the way they are?'

And there went that deafening silence. I was honestly expecting a dishonest and uncomfortable "yes" from her. But I didn't get it. Well, not really. I got it – only ten seconds late, and with a loud thud of her locker door that nearly crushed the bones of my fingers.

And by the way, this was the first time Carly didn't even mind saying sorry to me. I had to go excuse myself from class and go to the school clinic alone. Phew. Ms. Shay didn't even notice me whimpering. Maybe that's how bothered she was.

A few minutes after the school nurse left me to rest, I had time to contemplate things for a bit.

Define a compromise.

A compromise is a point of agreement between two parties that originally clashed. We only arrive at compromises when we sacrifice something. Like how some women, who are both fans of great food and a good figure, would sacrifice hours of slacking and turn them into strenuous work-outs. Or like how I sacrificed this-this heart wrenching feeling in my chest. I can't let them stain this relationship with the fattest lie they'd ever make.

* * *

I'm not sure if it's good a comeback. But what's important is I'm actually back on my feet again. I had to fight a really, really fat and heavy writer's block that found it's way in my head over the holidays. Nice to be here again :) I hope you liked this.


	12. iPsycho: Reloaded

I know it's a bit soon for me to say this but thank you guys for the warm welcome. Well, again, that is. Hehehe. I love you all and I vow to my dog's grave that this story will stop at a proper conclusion. Oh yeah, my dog's not dead. Oh well. Show time people!

* * *

Carly was, without a doubt, bothered.

How can I tell, you ask? Is that a joke? My hand won't speak for itself so I think I'll just write "CARLY SHAY DID THIS" all over the inch-thick bandage. It was on cold compress for almost an hour earlier too. If I didn't understand how a heart broke, I would've thrown my own version of a bitch fit at Carly. But no, here we were, sitting disturbingly quiet at our side of the cafeteria.

Carly was just poking at her food. I tried talking to her about iCarly so she could get her mind off things, but whatever I said only had a low "mm-hm" for an answer. Maybe even if I said I was dying on the spot, I would still get that exact same "mm-hm".

'Hey, Carly,' I began.

'Mm-hm.'

Well, that was very nice. I didn't even say anything after calling her attention. I shrugged and began poking at my food too. This went on until the object of this glum atmosphere jumped across the table from Carly and plumped herself on the chair.

'Hey!' Sam said rather too joyfully as soon as she settled comfortably.

She smiled.

And smiled.

And smiled.

When she didn't get any response from Shay, she looked at me accusingly.

'Dude, not cool,' I lifted my hand a couple of inches from her face. 'I'm the victim here.'

'Oh,' she said nonchalantly. She reached for Carly's chin and lifted the brunette's gaze at herself.

'Whaddup, doll?'

How does she do that? Is she allowed to do that? First, you seemingly flirt around then you would do that? How could you even do that? I'm no girl but I could bite her finger if that were me in Carly's place. But hey, that's Sam; she's Carly's medicine. The younger Shay sighed and forced out a smile. She then pushed her cheese platter over at Sam's side of the table.

'Are you hungry, Sammy?' she asked.

'Dude, I'm always hungry,' the blonde practically sucked the food off the plate and returned Carly's smile. For one second, I could throw my milk carton at her for having the attention span of a rabbit. However, she could be surprising at times. Well, when it came to her "doll" sitting across the table from her, she was always surprising. 'So, again with the question, what's wrong, cupcake? I can smell your misery from a mile away – stronger than the food here.'

'Nothing, really,' Carly answered, lifting a hand to rest her chin on it. At least, she was now looking directly at Puckett. 'I just have this feeling that I'm beginning to miss you so bad…so soon.'

At that moment, I forgot about my food, the noise at the cafeteria and the pain on my hand. I am right-handed but I swear I felt my fingers pull into a clenched fist – a reflex for victory. Carly Shay must have decided to put up a fight.

Sam sniggered. 'Good one, Shay. No, really. What's the deal?'

Carly pulled both ends of her lips into a sarcastic smile. 'Haha, yeah, I was kidding.'

I swear. These were among those times when I just want to lift a hand to my forehead and slap the daylights out of it. Yeah, it's a really comforting therapy kind of thing, IF my finger bones weren't powdered by an insane woman. Sam is brutal but she never crushed any of my bones. I therefore conclude that Carly is evil.

WHY? Maybe moving out of the bestfriend phase was soooo hard after all.

'Actually, nothing is wrong, Sam. I just don't feel like eating my food.'

'That's it? Are you sure?'

Carly gave Sam a reassuring smile and nodded. Sam smiled one of those rare smiles that she could only slip in public if it was Carly she was offering it to. She brought her hand up from under the table and reached for her "bestfriend's" cheek to probably pinch it, when a "conveniently" intervening hand went snatching it.

'Wow! This is a really nice ring, Sam!' Cindy, our redhead Chemistry classmate, said as she brought Sam's hand at eye level and examined the colorful ring around one of her fingers. 'I didn't think you'd wear it again.'

I turned to Carly as I noticed her tense up. I immediately rested my left hand on the small of her back. I was no Sam but I at least wanted to make her feel that I was with her – already hating this Cindy chick.

'Oh, hi!' Cindy smiled so sickly sweet at Carly and me. 'I'm Cindy.'

'Hey,' Carly and I greeted rather monotonously. Actually, I would've just said "groaned" monotonously.

'Don't you agree with me?'

We continued to stare at her not because we waited for her to explain what she just said; we were just not interested with whatever she was planning to say.

'I think Sam is really brave to put it on!'

She was referring to the rainbow ring Sam had on. Without us inviting her over, she squeezed herself beside Sam even if there was a vacant chair situated probably an inch where she stood.

Ugh, I'm like Carly's voodoo doll at that point. What she felt, I definitely felt. If this was my exact mood and I was, for some reason, in Spencer's sculpting class, I would tell him I want to sculpt something out of the emotion of STABBING.

'Uh,' Sam seemed a little lost but definitely uncomfortable. 'I think I told you about Cindy? She's in my Chemistry class.'

'Sam!' the redhead suddenly blurted out, feigning hurt. 'We're pretty tight now, right? You know, the ham, the bacon? Yesterday. And the other day? And last week?'

I could swear I could hear a nerve throbbing somewhere in the cafeteria and if I leaned closer to Carly's head, I can definitely say it was coming from there.

'Sure,' Shay began, 'with you forcing yourself on that poor chair, you do seem pretty tight at some point.'

Sam nearly gulped the chunk of cheese she had just put in her mouth without chewing it.

'Oh, silly me,' Cindy finally stood from where she sat and moved to the vacant chair beside Sam. Without wasting a second, she gasped at Sam's cheese platter. 'Why would you eat that? I can buy you much, much more delicious food than that platter of cheapness.'

Carly's hand went down on the table top a little too hard that it turned quite a number of heads at our direction. 'This isn't going to happen every day, is it?'

'Uh, actually-' Sam stuttered. 'No, as long as-'

'Maybe!' Cindy blurted out happily, 'I can really get used to it!'

'God, help us,' I muttered under my breath. I wasn't sure what kind of creature Sam got herself.

'Oh! Are you religious Freddie?' Cindy asked.

'No, but right now I'd consider to be.'

'You seem really nice, you know. Would you mind coming with me? I need the extra hand to get Sam all the food she wants!'

Well, let me see. By extra hand I think she literally meant "hand" as in one hand.

'Sure,' I answered as I turned to get up and rolled my eyes. Maybe she's really, really dumb. Why couldn't she see my hand bandaged? But if it's to get rid of her, this should be worth it.

She "relatively" silently walked with me over at the counter area. I actually thought that she was pretty and prim if she could just shut up. Maybe I should distract her a little longer to get Carly and Sam some time to talk.

'So,' I began. 'I heard from Sam that you are quite the energetic one. I guess Sam really doesn't lie.'

'Oh, Freddie, Freddie.'

That wasn't her tone. I was a hundred-percent sure that that wasn't the tone she was using earlier. It sounded a little too "knowing" for her dumb and cheery ghetto. I didn't like it already.

'I know what you're doing. Just stop it. It really wouldn't do anything to keep me from getting those two kept apart.'

For the second time in the day, I froze. I wasn't the type to judge at first look, but I knew this girl was – what's the word? Oh, yeah – a skunkbag at sight.

She leaned into my ear and whispered, 'I have wants, you know.'

This was another bitch to deal with. Well. I got rid of Missy before; I can always do something to get rid of this newly found amoeba.

* * *

Well, there we are. I'm not the type to add characters. But I just had to put someone in the fray to bug everyone else. :) Hope you liked it.


	13. The Thing

Um, I'm going to have to ask for a little patience with this chapter guys. things will pick up.

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS EVERYONE! :) :) Words aren't enough to describe how I appreciate them.

* * *

Things were nothing but annoying.

'This is nothing but annoying!' Carly exclaimed as she finally gave up pretending to read her book and set it down rather harshly on the table.

I was waiting for her to say that. It had been three days now since _that thing_ was formally introduced to us by Sam at our usual lunch table. Yep. We endured three days of her annoying Sam-stealing antics up until now. I hated her the moment she involved herself with Sam. This was probably how Sam felt toward me the moment I pushed myself into Carly's life. No wonder she tortured me so much. At least that made sense now.

'You think?' I said sarcastically with a sigh.

'I can't concentrate!' she yelped. 'I hate this! This is driving me insane!'

'You know,' I began, 'If I used she-who-must-not-be-named-_ever_'s name to substitute all the "this" words on your previous statements, maybe the feeling will be alleviated a little.'

'I can't even think of her name! _That thing_ annoys me to no end!' She was panting now. Wow. She was kempt for days and perhaps, this would feel really therapeutic. She straightened all of a sudden and crooked her lips a little.

'Hey, Sam, could you please come with me? Could you please touch my hair? Could you please _smell_ my hair?'

I should say. She did a really awesome job trying to impersonate Cindy. She even raised her voice a pitch higher. Then, she reverted back to a snapping version of herself.

'Oh, I think it really is necessary to smell your hair because your brain that's reeking of evil is starting to rub off on that hay you call hair!'

She growled and buried her face in her books.

Wow. I actually thought Cindy was pretty. Well, that was when I first saw her at class and didn't know she was capable of literally grabbing Sam away from us during school hours and just making Carly this miserable.

'I had been thinking…'

Yeah. Haha. Now that I'm looking back, I kind of find that statement of mine a little funny. I hadn't just been thinking for past few days; I was practically frying my fuse-box of a brain.

'I guess you'll disgustedly agree with me if I said its only a matter of time before she says,' I paused for a second, straightened my back, crooked my arm as I held my fingers in front of me in a impossibly hideous curve, raised the pitch of my voice probably four octaves higher and said, 'Sam, could you please sleep with me?'

Carly still had her face smothered by page 102 of her history book. Her frame stiffened and she groaned loudly as a response to my statement.

'Thanks a lot, Freddie.'

Heh. No chiz.

She lifted her face from page 102 and rested her chin on the page instead.

'But really,' she began, 'thanks a lot. I know that the reason Sam was longer than an hour with me during lunch yesterday was because you partnered with _the thing_ in Chemistry.'

Oh yeah. I almost forgot telling you guys about that. I partnered with _the thing_ in Chemistry to keep her from Sam just before lunch. But that's not the best part – I _accidentally_ spilled some unknown slush of chemicals on her skirt and I immediately got her running around crying and yelling about me and her discussing this with Principal Franklin.

Haha. I'm not good at lying but at least I got to trap her for an hour and a half in Principal Franklin's office. All I had to do in there was to keep insisting that I didn't mean it. I didn't have to be convincing. This wasn't about me being good at lying anyway; it was about me ticking her off and making her complain and complain and complain until she realizes where things went wrong. Hehe. It wasn't the chemical on her skirt; oh I don't know, maybe it's Carly and Sam giggling it off over lunch?

'You're very much welcome, my lady,' I said with a smile.

Carly snickered and shook her head.

'You're such a dork.'

We laughed a little more together before she gradually came to a stop and looked like there was something really important that she just remembered.

'Oh, my gosh! I have to prepare dinner!' she exclaimed as she immediately got up and went for the refrigerator.

'Sam?' I asked her.

'She would definitely come by,' she said, looking like a kid who just found her long lost toy. It was adorable how she adored Sam so much. That girl was so lucky.

'Yeah, she'd definitely come by if she shook off _the thing_ already.'

I didn't want to be too direct. For two nights in a row, Carly had been exerting the effort to prepare dinner that Sam never got to touch. She hadn't showed up at the Shay apartment for two straight nights and I knew it hurt Carly more than she would let it show.

Carly didn't answer. She still busied herself with looking for something quick to prepare. Sam would usually come by in a couple of minutes from now if Cindy didn't exist.

'Oh, I feel a little lucky! Spencer's spaghetti tacos survived the crash last night! I'll just heat this then.'

I can tell she's averting the topic. She had her face ducked in the ref long enough to pick herself up again. I hate how things are going and I don't wholly blame Cindy. This is their fault – Sam and Carly.

Now that I remember, this was the night I set my foot down. I thought that I was done going with Carly's or Sam's wish. I had to do something more – more than just keeping _bacteria _away from them.

So, I slid to the farthest part of the living room to call Samantha Puckett.

'Where the hell are you?'

'Wow,' was the first thing I heard before I the muffled high-pitched banters in the background, 'I never thought _you_ would call looking for me.'

'Why? Did you expect _someone else_ to?'

I was pretty sure she knew what I meant by "someone else" with an extra stress.

Sam didn't seem too happy when I called. Or maybe she was already unhappy before I called and I just aggravated things. And if there was one basic thing with Sam and Carly, they make the other do wonders just with a sign from the other.

I walked back to the kitchen and placed my phone against Carly's ear without explaining. I just mouthed her favorite word. Nope, no need to guess that. She glared at me but took the call anyway.

'Hey!' she said with a smile, 'do you want to come over? We're having spaghetti tacos.'

I couldn't make out what Sam said but I could hear her being perky on the other side.

'Really? I'll be seeing you then!'

Well. At least people were being happy now. Not until Carly pushed the "End Call" button and practically chucked my cellphone at me. Like how a picture would zap out of the television set when you turn it off, Carly's smile faded.

'What's wrong? Is she coming over?'

'Oh, do you mean, are _they_ coming over?'

I didn't know why I was still surprised by that after I heard the bantering on Sam's end. Oh, I don't know! Maybe because Sam would never do that to Carly! Damn it! I just knew there was something wrong. I just had to know what that was. Oh, and did I forget? I WAS GOING TO FIND OUT.

By the time Sam and _the thing_ got to Carly's place, I felt like I was in an endless pit of sentences that were only composed of…

'OMG! This is such a small place!'

Well, that's the first one. This is how most of her sentences went: OMG! This is such a small [insert furniture/electronic]

Sam sat across the table from me and I couldn't help myself from burning her with angry stares. She was silent herself. She looked extremely bothered than she was angry or GUILTY! The only thing she said – or at least – attempted to say was this,

'Um, Cupcake?'

'OMG, Sam' and then went the fireworks, 'you know, when we finally call it official, I won't ever have you call me that. It's ridiculous.'

Carly set down her fork and took a very deep breath. It's a good thing she went through years of patience training with the Dorfmans, else she would've slaughtered Cindy with that silver pointed thing she just carefully placed beside her plate. She could be surprising sometimes. One day you'd think she is incapable of defending herself and the next day, she'd whack a hobo out of a motel room or smash a psychopath's face repeatedly on fiberglass.

Well. For this night, the only major thing I want to say is, "OMG! This is such puny patience I have left!"

I was about to slam my hand on the table, but before it even landed there, Sam's fist went there first – and hard. She turned to Cindy and narrowed her eyes.

'You can do anything, Cindy. But Carly is a different story,' she sighed in a disturbingly hushed tone.

Cindy, like the little brat she is, stood up from her chair and glared at Sam before she stormed out of the apartment.

Sam sighed deeply and buried her face in one hand.

'I'm sorry, Cupcake. I'm trying. I'll just – talk to her tomorrow and fix this.'

'I know. It's alright.'

Gradually, I was feeling like I was being alienated. There was something they were not telling me. This might have been that thing that I was referring to. And I don't mean Cindy; I'm referring to "the _wrong_ thing" that I just felt I had to find out. And soon.


	14. That Dreaded Night

'This isn't working, is it?'

Sam and Carly were now sitting on the couch while I was left in the kitchen poking at my food with my fork. The blonde was playing with the hem of Carly's sweater sleeve. I'm kind of surprised it hadn't burned yet. She had been staring at it for almost an hour now. The brunette, on the other hand, was facing Sam but she wasn't looking at her per se. She was just facing her direction, staring blankly.

They had been silent until Sam decided to break the silence with that awkward line.

'Don't you think we were both wrong?'

Carly sighed at Sam's second statement. She still wasn't looking at her "bestfriend".

'Come on,' she finally said with a light and playful shove of Sam's shoulder, 'you're Sam Puckett – the lovably patchy girl who can make anyone smile.'

Sam didn't react to that. Carly decided to stare at her bestfriend directly and reached for a few strands of blonde hair in her fingers. 'You're really good at making me smile. It shouldn't be too hard to other people, you know?'

There was only the most deafening silence that followed. It probably lasted for just five minutes. But, I knew then, that to all three of us, it felt like double. I decided to push my plate away and leave. Maybe they would actually "talk" things out if I left. But before I could even get up, Sam finally groaned out of frustration.

'I hope you're right,' Sam lightly pushed Carly's hand away and got up. 'I hope we were right.'

I wasn't sure I was in context anymore but whatever Sam's last statement meant, I'm pretty sure I was agreeing to it – none of these girls have thought things through. They were all acting out of too much emotion and I hated it.

Carly and I followed Sam with our gaze as she picked up her bag and went for the door. From where I sat, I could only see the back of the younger Shay's head. She was disturbingly silent.

I got up from where I sat and walked over to where she was. I placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

'Hey. Do you want to talk?'

She sighed and rested her head on the couch. 'Not really. I don't feel like talking right now.'

I nodded. And as a sign of respect for her decision, I went for the door to leave her alone. Both blonde and brunette needed time, I figured.

Just as my hand touched the door knob, Carly spoke up.

'It's going to rain, huh?'

'It would seem so,' I answered, turning back to her.

'I want to go out for a walk.'

It was confusing how she would ask for a stroll when she just asked about the rain. But right now, I just went with her. I thought that she wouldn't tell me that if she wanted to walk alone.

'Okay,' I took her coat from the stand and tossed it over to her.

Before we got out of her apartment, I made sure I had sent Sam a message about me taking Carly for walk. I was being sensitive after the series of events that I've seen.

_She seems pretty down. I'll just take her out for a walk. I'm really not good at this. Come by if you can, k? _

Carly and I don't go out by ourselves; we always had Sam with us. This is the first time I'd be out of Bushwell Plaza with just Carly. I just don't want to take the risk of being mistook for a rebound by anyone especially Puckett. So, I made it clear on the text message that I just wanted to cheer Carly up and that I knew my boundaries. Here's one thing you should know if you ever fall on the shoes of Freddie Benson, the last thing you want is a jealous Sam on your back.

Carly was true to every sentence she said before we stepped out of Bushwell Plaza. We were walking for an hour and, really, that's all we did. We just walked while the wind was cold and aggressive. The atmosphere was sending every signal about the upcoming rain. But Carly remained relaxed. She just looked at her footsteps – probably even counting them – as we walked.

I didn't mind starting a conversation. She told me she didn't want to talk and that she wanted to go for a walk. So, I decided that all she really wanted – well – was something refreshing for a change.

I just followed wherever she walked. We got to the nearby park and a couple of clothing and cellphone stores she only stared at from outside, and about another hour, when we found ourselves walking back toward Bushwell Plaza, she stopped.

Raindrops began to fall a couple at a time.

'When we were eleven,' she said as she looked up at graying sky. 'She stopped right here after I took her shopping for clothes and a cellphone. I told her that there should always be a way for me to reach her in case she got into juvy.'

I only looked at her, trying so hard not to talk.

'I found out she wasn't listening to a word I was saying. She just stopped here, staring at the sky.'

Carly smiled. She wasn't happy at all. I could tell. But she smiled.

'Then I was going hysterical because the rain was threatening to soak everything I bought for her.'

Then, she laughed lightly.

It was funny how at this context, I was the one who was about to go hysterical. The rain was picking up. The raindrops doubled in size and quantity and all I could do was stare at her.

'She just stood here and told me that nothing will ever keep us part.'

It was true. Nothing was supposed to keep them apart. It was just ironic how they are the ones who are keeping themselves from each other at this point.

'She made me promise too. I said yes, completely forgetting how the rain suddenly fell so hard and drenched our day's hardship.'

She began laughing.

'Then she laughed. She asked me if soaked shopping items were part of that promise.'

She kept laughing and laughing. But I wasn't. I only looked at her as she continued to look up like she was meeting the rain head-on.

A lot of people around us began running as they looked for shelter from the shower.

But Carly? She was still on the same page – only that her laughter began to break. When she finally stopped laughing, her eyes closed. Even if raindrops slid down her face, I never failed to notice the tears that began to fall.

'Carly?'

I felt pathetic. I didn't know what to do. Then, I began to feel a very disturbing throb in my chest. And perhaps, one of the reasons I pulled her into an embrace was because I had to shield that newly found pain there too.

I could feel her shaking her head in my shoulder.

'I told her everything I felt,' she said and began to sob.

I listened very intently as she explained how things went the day I locked them up in the studio. I remember shutting my laptop close and decided not to eavesdrop at that moment. I never knew the depth of their conversation back then until now.

'She loves me, Freddie.'

I nodded as I finally understood how things became very unstable after that day. 'She does, Carly. I know.'

'But I'm just so scared to lose her I couldn't give us the chance.'

This was perhaps nothing short of heart-breaking for both of them. Love can be so messed up. I partly blame myself for pushing her to realize what she really felt for Sam. You could say I destroyed everything; I destroyed that relationship that was unshaken. And I'm not proud.

'I'm so sorry, Carly,' was all I could muster as I held her even closer. 'I didn't know.'

She continued to cry in my shoulder and I continued to be helpless until she broke the silence between us with a whisper that I couldn't have understood if her lips were even an inch distant from my ear.

'I'm tired.'


	15. Commence Code: Fried Chicken

I am aware that this chapter is very short. but it's sort of a kick-off chapter for the harder parts to write. :) that's why i'm taking things down extra-carefully.

* * *

When something solid hit me square on my nape, I knew I was in the right part of Seattle.

I looked down on the ground to find a neatly cleaned-out corn cob. Yep, I am in the right place.

I smiled and looked up to see the person I was trying to find for two hours now. She was sitting with a blank expression on a building fire exit.

'That was nothing, Sam.'

I wasn't sure she knew what I meant. But I was referring to that little moment in the rain I had with Carly – not the corn cob.

'It'd better be nothing.'

I walked over to her with a stupid grin on my face. There was no denying anything with the answer she gave me. The only sentences I wouldn't negate as a response will be the ones that were adverbs and adjectives away from "I'm-smitten-with-my-bestfriend".

I sat on the second step from where she had plopped herself. I wouldn't want to be on the same step as her after what happened earlier. The corn cob may probably just be a warning. Who knows what would make its way to my nape next.

'Actually,' I began, 'it was about something.'

From where I was, I couldn't see any reactions from her; I could only see the back of her head and the only sign of emotion that I could use was the pace of her breathing. She didn't face me.

'It's about something that mattered to her greatly.'

Still no reaction.

'It was about you.'

She sighed and finally looked at me.

'You know what, Sam? This is about the longest tantrum you've ever pulled on her.'

'I've done better,' she answered sarcastically as she looked away again.

'Talk to me, Sam. Let me help you.'

She snorted and shook her head. For more than two years of being with Sam, I knew her as the person who disliked being pitied. The only sort of attention that leaned towards sympathy that she ever loved was the "Carly love" that she always fidgets about whenever threatened to be taken away.

'I meant _you_ by both of you.'

'What do you know?'

'Then tell me so I can understand.'

'You wouldn't understand, Fredward!' she snapped as she turned to look at me again. This time, her eyes were stern but hinted hurt.

'Then tell me thing so I can understand. Let's fix this, Sam!'

'Don't you get it?'

I noticed how her grip on the railing tightened as her fingers grew whiter. I was lucky I wasn't hit yet. This is Sam. And to see her holding back so much was nothing short of painful – even for me.

'You're not the kid who woke up realizing that Carly Shay happened to be the only real thing that ever happened to her life.'

I gritted my teeth behind my lips to think of what to say next over carefully. It's rare for a Samantha Puckett to say something so sensitive to a Fredward Benson.

'I really don't understand why you guys decided to keep things leveled. It's ironic. Because now, nothing seems to be working right.'

Okay. That didn't come out right. I think it would be wise to have 911 at speed dial.

She shook her head and mumbled something I didn't understand. But if I'm not mistaken, maybe it sounded like, 'prepare your grave'. I'm not really sure but I hope it's, 'get ready to rave', which doesn't make much sense. So, yeah. Let's prepare 911 then.

'What do you want to do then?' I asked, trying to avert the discussion.

Silence.

'You don't know?'

Silence.

'It's funny how a wild Puckett can be so proud but silenced by girl problems.'

I was insulting her. I know that. I just wanted her to say something so I, at least, knew where to start if I were to do anything to fix this mess. I decided that I'm taking it to a higher level each time her response was inappropriate with regard to my plans.

'You're being stupid Puckett. You think you can save her from the pain you can possibly cause if you decide to pursue her? It's so dumb.'

Silence.

'And now the Cindy Chapter? Come on! You can do better than that!'

Silence.

Okay. She was being very _Sammish_,as Carly would put it, at the moment. It's about time I bring out the card under my sleeve – the one trick she can never ignore.

'But you know? I think you're not being that stupid,' I said, sliding my hand in my jacket pocket and preparing my thumb on the keypad of my cellphone. 'If you're level one stupid, Carly's being even more stupid than you.'

I waited. I knew it would do the trick.

Anyway, after about an hour from that very moment, I found myself knocking on the Shay apartment door. And only a few moments later, the door swung open and revealed just the person I needed.

'Hey, Freddo,' Spencer greeted and after noticing the dark Puckett marks circling my left eye, he was already confused. He didn't ask about it. He just lifted a finger, pointing at it.

I smiled.

That my friends, is the official symbol of the commencement of "Code: Fried Chicken."

* * *

I've got something big brewing for everyone who gave this fic time. thanks guys. in the next chapter, it will be my turn to return the love :)


	16. DeadLocks and Arm Locks

It wasn't much of a discussion – what I had with Spencer. Well, it was hard to talk to him not because he had no idea what was going on, it was hard to spread out the plan in front of him when he practically spoke the words right out of my mouth. He had initially reacted with a plain and a simple "oh" after I broke the not-so news to him.

He's the best brother any teenager could have.

So, since Spencer was so enthusiastic about Code: Fried Chicken, I called for an AV Club meeting. The members were among the few people I needed to complete this handful of a project. The meeting will be later this afternoon so I had a lot of time to probably visit the younger Shay and see if she still lived because I never even got a glimpse of her shadow for hours now.

'Hey, Spence!' I greeted as I poked my head out of the slit of an opening I made from pushing the door lightly. 'Carlotta Shay still exists right?'

'Hm,' Spencer looked at the ceiling as if to think if he even had a sister. His hands were full at the moment; right hand holding a pan full of soap suds and the left one tightly gripping a Mexican sponge. 'I guess, since I have been hearing dialogues from four different movies now - unless, Hollywood managed to squeeze a movie that had Gizmo the Gremlin and Yoda the Master Jedi talking about Football in prison.'

'Good,' I said as I stepped-in fully. 'Oh and, whaddup with the sponge and the pan?'

'Well, Carlotta Shay had been making pan cakes with practically every ingredient we have in the fridge.'

Spencer turned his head to look at a pile of bags of chips and cookies and emptied cans of Irish cream.

'And. I mean EVERY ingredient.'

'Yeah,' I nodded. 'I get it.'

I walked past Spencer and marched to Carly's room. I could hear her TV's audio blaring through her door. Feeling a little careful, I paused outside her door a little and listened. I could hear the soft sound of crunching drowned by the sound of her insane TV volume.

I sighed and pushed the door open, revealing a very bored Carly. She was sitting – or maybe slumped – on her bed with her upper back resting lazily on the headboard as she munched on snacks she picked from a huge bag of chips. She didn't seem too interested with the movie she was watching.

I shook my head upon seeing the scattered plates, spoons, junk food covers and…shoes? I don't even know what she did with the shoes but they are piled under her TV and another pile was sitting beside her.

'What's with the shoes?'

She rolled her eyes without turning to acknowledge my presence, 'what's with your eye?'

'The love of your life did this to me.'

She mumbled something that sounded like the Milk-Cartons-On-The-Wall Jingle and stuffed a handful of chips that I originally thought only Sam could handle.

'Really, Carly?' I began picking up the scattered stuff in front of me and threw them elsewhere. I'm not very organized myself but her room at the moment was two bags of chips away from disgusting. 'So you're just going to bask in your misery and not do anything?'

'I am not-'

Just before she could finish her sentence, some character on the screen ended his little monologue with a "you had me at hello."

'LIAR!' Carly suddenly screamed. She grabbed a shoe from the pile beside her and sent it flying towards the TV. It missed my shoulder by a mere centimeter.

Uh, I guess I know what the shoes are for now.

'Carly, get off your bed and do something productive!'

I honestly never imagined myself scolding Carly. Not once. But this time is totally different. This is for her own good.

'No!'

'Listen! This isn't going to make you happy. Yeah, you two thought about all this shit about saving each other to keep yourselves in a nice little happy friendship,' I added air quotation marks on the "friendship" part, 'but dude! It's making things worse! And look where everything is now! It's all a mess!'

I heaved a breath, waiting for her to answer. She just sat there, munching on another handful of chips.

'Okay,' I said, feigning defeat. I wasn't going to give up anyway. Nope, not now. I ended up looking at the pile of shoes beside her as I searched for the right things to say, and luckily, I found one thing that may get her back to her feet.

I walked over to her bed and picked out that one sneaker that I knew, without doubt, belonged to Sam. I remember how she mercilessly kicked me square on the face with this shoe. I placed it carefully on top of the pile beside her and walked toward the door.

'Think things over again.'

I could almost hear her sigh as I shut her room door behind me.

The next morning, I had to go to school an hour earlier with the AV Club. We didn't think the preparations for Code: Fried Chicken was so complicated, even for nerds and nubs like us. Well, ouch.

After stuffing every equipment they brought with them at Locker 239, which was now owned by some kid we had to console with a couple of bucks, I went to my own locker sleepily. Man, Carly and Sam owes me big time for this.

I stopped a couple of meters from my locker as I noticed Carly pulling out a couple of books from her locker. She still looks bored and tired but something told me she seemed a little more off than her bored version of herself. I couldn't tell if it was something negative though; there was just something different and strong about her today. Don't blame me for being bluntly Carly-sharp – I'm not Sam.

I was about to walk toward her when our favorite "thing" walked in and leaned her shoulder on Sam's locker.

'Hello, Carly Shay,' she greeted. I swear, that was just one greeting and she already icks me. Ugh! And she even made me use the word "ick". She's really something.

'Hello, Cindy,' Carly answered sternly, to my surprise. She was usually nice, even to the ickiest people on the planet. She continued sifting through her things and never looked at Cindy's direction, not even for a second.

'Well, well. It seems we're feeling a little better.'

'Yeah, feeling awesome actually,' she still had eighty-percent of her attention directed at her things, like Cindy was actually a life-form that was even lower than a fly.

'Sam never called for an apology after that little scene you pushed her into. It's really annoying how she pays more attention to you than she ever did with me.'

Carly huffed, shutting her locker a little louder it made Cindy back-off Sam's locker.

'You know what's even more annoying?' Carly began, 'the fact that you ever existed.'

Ouch. That was a little mean for a Carly Shay. Cindy's right eyebrow shot up.

'My, my. This is even more entertaining. I'll make sure everyone hears about goody-two-shoe Carly Shay being a hypocrite.'

Carly smiled. And I'm telling you, this is the only smile that she made that freaked me out. It was the kind of smile that was vaguely similar to Sam's, only less pure. Sam would usually give me that smile when she gives me a wedgie.

She yanked Cindy's right arm, spun her around, pushed her to her locker and applied a little scary amount of pressure on the red head's now awkwardly bent arm. The shorter girl whimpered in pain.

'Don't forget to tell them that I pulled you into an arm lock. They will love that.'

Carly looked around as she noticed a number of students looking her way. "That smile" she did earlier returned. I brought a hand to my nape as I suddenly found myself remembering Megan Parker from that show Drake and Josh.

'Look, it seems I even made your job easier for you,' Carly said as she pushed Cindy into the lockers one last time before storming off.

She was mumbling about how she didn't care how other people thought. But I was just overjoyed to tell her what I was thinking. I thought she was awesome. It was so symbolic how she did that. I knew something in her changed. I just hoped that this meant what I think it was – that she was ready to fight.

However, now that I think about it, I really don't like the idea of her being like this consistently. I already have Sam's torturing to deal with everyday. But anyway, tonight's show was going to be better than I thought!


	17. Sugar for Cupcakes

Thanks for the reviews guys Haha! They mean everything to me even if it doesn't seem so sometimes. It just excites me to publish something for you guys, which is why I commonly skip out of the notes.

Disclaimer: Don't own iCarly. Duh. There really shouldn't be any suing. Nick is rich and would have nothing to do with a student like me.

* * *

Really, the AV Club plus Spencer Shay may seem like a geek convention to most, but I'm just happy with the team I picked to fire the key bullet of Code: Fried Chicken. They are just awesome. Well. Yeah, we had our latest addition – Gibby.

But. Yeah, I know, there are always buts. I hate it too.

No matter how awesome a team they made, things can get veeeeeery messy sometimes - especially if amoeba took the form of a human being. Oh, you know who I'm talking about. She just had to report to the Principal's Office and rant about the arm lock and Carly. It was something Principal Franklin refused to believe. Unfortunately though, there were witnesses, Carly didn't deny it or even at least try to defend herself and, to make things worse, Sam was nowhere to be seen.

Geez. Sometimes a day can start right but end messed up. But I won't have it! I didn't prepare a Plan B but at least Germy and the others came up with something to get Carly Shay out of detention. The first thing I had to do after class is to figure out where Sam was. Or maybe I could just ask her.

After a couple of rings she picked up - sounding really annoyed.

'Sam, where the hell are you?'

She groaned.

'Let me see. You think I'm not serious about this?'

'I'm beginning to doubt,' I answered.

'I am dead serious, Fredward,' she said. 'Just trust me.'

'Alright,' I sighed. She was better than me when it came to Carly, anyway. Actually, she's best at being Carly's devious angel. 'Don't be late.'

'Yes. Rooftop at 6:00pm.'

'Awesome. We just have to get the meatball out of the sauce.'

I cut the line and immediately ran behind the school building to meet up with the rest of Team Fried Chicken. I warned Spencer beforehand about a possible delay. He was cool with it because he was making last minute changes with his design. I bet he's not even finished anything. I heard him practically gagging while watching "Celebrities Under Water" last night. Maybe he was trying some of the stunts there in their kitchen sink. Who knows?

Anyway, as soon as I got to the back of the school, everyone was there. All we had to do was a quick rerun of the plan before we commenced it.

It was simple really. I just needed someone to shut down the power supply of the entire school. And as soon as that happens, the "Distraction Team" of Germy and Josh, having raided the school InterCom and tapping the system earlier, will say the most magical phrases of them all – "Mr. Howard eats pants".

That will get him to lunge for them, whom he thinks were at the Media Room.

I finished up the discussion as quick as I could and now, people were on the move – except for one.

'You know your role, Gibson,' I gave him a good luck pat on the back.

'Gibbeh!' apparently, that was his way of convincing me to just trust him.

As soon as everybody was in position, I gave the order to shut down the electricity. We gave it a little torturing five minutes before the school speakers boomed with an engineered pre-recorded Freddio voice.

I gave Gibby the prepare signal as I crouched low at the entrance. And there it was - loud thuds and the grumbling voice of Mr. Howard, the real bulldog of the school.

'Go, Gibby. Go!'

Gibby gave one hearty battle cry and rushed into the school. Roughly ten minutes after, the Gibson returned rushing out of the main Ridgeway Building with Carly on his shoulder.

Ah, life is good with Gibby around.

It wasn't easy busting Carly out and still carry-on with the plan. So, I made Gibby treat Carly to the Groovy Smoothie under the premise that he "handled" her carelessly out of the building. Carly was reluctant at first to not return to school to complete her detention credits, but when she caught a glimpse of Mr. Howard's reddening face somewhere at the Ridgeway front, she gave in.

'Alright, only because you guys busted me out for very strange reasons,' she said, eyeing Gibby and me suspiciously. 'Well, it's strange day after all.'

'Yeah,' I began turning on my heel to go the other direction. 'And since it is strange day, I'm off to the Diaper-Changing class with my mom.'

Carly laughed her first laugh this day. It wasn't very natural though.

'That's not very strange, Freddie.'

Right back at her was a fake laugh as well.

I fetched the remaining AV Club members from the back of the school and went for Bushwell Plaza, delaying 5 minutes off the clock to keep ourselves from being spotted by Carly.

Exactly at 6:30 pm, I stood at the center of the Bushwell Plaza rooftop with a giddy smile on my face. I was happy everything was set. I held the walkie-talkie to my mouth and gave my order.

'Fry the chicken, everyone.'

I didn't really trust Sam with her being lazy to pull-off her simple task of getting here at 6:00. However, seeing how she changed the flowers that lined the railing of the staircase that led to the rooftop door, I must say I'm impressed.

That day she gave me my black-eye, I was able to get her to participate in Code: Fried Chicken. She gave all the inputs about Carly's favorites. But this day, she went as far as change the things I skipped-out on. The truth is the stuff she changed were all minor details. Nonetheless, it painted the picture perfectly in front of me right now.

The mat that was a couple of feet from where I stood looked less comfortable than how I originally planned it. Sam removed the candles and the rose petals and just changed them with a few bowls of junk food, a tray of cupcakes and bottles of Peppy Cola. Two of the four bottles were diet. She removed the blanket and changed them with an awful lot of pillows.

The lights that Spencer prepared gave the mild texture of warmth toward the date-turned-picnic-spot. Sam had that changed as well; she had to pull three eye-lashes off of Spencer to get him to go against his creative instincts. She had him add a tint of blue there. It wasn't a pretty addition to orange, red and light pink.

I suddenly found myself gulping. She actually changed a lot. No wonder she skipped school.

The food that Spencer had been preparing all day wasn't touched at all. Normally, no matter the occasion, Sam would most definitely lunge at it.

I fixed my bow-tie a little as I began feeling nervous. I could hear someone coming up the steps and then, there she was, looking a little lost at first. A smile began to form as she looked around, looking awfully impressed.

'What is all this?' she asked with a little laugh.

'Remember how you said you wanted to watch a Cuddlefish concert without the hassle of a sweaty crowd and nasty seats?' I asked.

She was a couple of feet away from me as she continued to look around.

'And you also wished you could watch the band rockin' without you having to stand. Instead, you would stuff yourself with good food, chillax on a nice comfortable spot but still feel the night ambience?' I added.

'Yes, but I don't see them,' she said jokingly. 'And as far as I know, they aren't playing at this time and date.'

I lifted the walkie-talkie to my mouth again, 'the band please.'

'On it,' Germy answered.

A few seconds later, a ridiculously huge projected image of a Cuddlefish concert appeared on the floor. This was the concert she wasn't able to catch because of Sam's impulsiveness with the "bestfriend" shirt before.

I waved at the water tower further behind Carly. That was where the other members of the AV Club were perched, manning the "concert".

'I don't mean to be rude, really, but this isn't even their latest concert. This footage was about two or three years ago?'

'But you haven't seen this one, right?' I asked her.

She shook her head and shyly smiled. 'Funny, I don't remember telling you all this. This is practically everything I like.'

'Well, I didn't really know all of this,' I answered.

'Then how?'

'That's February 5, 2008 to be exact,' said a voice from behind me.

Carly looked up at me confused, probably wondering how I managed to turn my voice into a girl's – more specifically, Sam's.

I stepped away from where I originally stood, revealing the one and only Samantha Puckett, who was now rubbing at her fingers together anxiously. I have never seen her this nervous. Well, sure she hates being at the hospital and would torture people when she's feeling nervous. But this is the kind of nervous that made her stare at the floor constantly.

'That's the concert I was supposed to watch with you,' she continued, 'having you kept from my side for days made me realize how badly I wished that I should have gone to that concert with you.'

Carly apparently couldn't speak. She was just staring at Sam as if she wanted to hear something else.

'That I should have given you the kind of attention I thought you wouldn't accept,' she, again, added. 'and all this shit about keeping our friendship is actually messing everything up. I don't want to hurt you, Carly. And I don't know if you ever figured it out but you know I never will, not in any way.'

Sam sighed and finally looked up at Carly.

'That's why I have decided to do the right thing – the only thing I'm good at.'

The shorter girl moved closer to her bestfriend and took her hands in hers. 'Carly, I know we talked about this but-'

'Sam?' Carly interrupted Sam with a finger on the blonde's lips and smiled. 'Wait.'

The younger Shay turned to me. 'So, Mr. Waiter-who's-awfully-over-dressed, do you watch Big Brother?'

I stared back at her confused.

She cleared her throat in response and looked up at the top of the water tower.

'Oh, right,' I brought my walkie to my mouth and gave one final command. 'Privacy, people.'

Then went groans over the walkie-talkie speaker.


	18. Purgatorying?

Okay. Vacation's over. I'm back.

* * *

I've sighed over thirty times now. Those two were up there for over hours. I'm not the most patient person in the world, but yeah, I'm not the most impatient one either. I can be sneaky though. However, in this case, I'd rather just save my face from any bruises and such.

I went up about four times to serve Spencer's foodums. Well, those four rounds can maybe – MAYBE – be conclusive of what may be going on up there.

Round one was a tray of awkwardness. Both of them were standing a meter or two apart and no one said a word. They didn't sit down at all. Well, not really. They finally decided to sit down when I set the tray on the mat before them. I had to – again – assure them that none of the AV Club members were eavesdropping – not even in the most technologically advanced manner. I had Sam play the stare-off with each and every club member before she let us off the hook.

Round two was all about breaking the ice. As I set the food down, they almost didn't even notice me. They were talking. And yeah, they were talking. The slightest noise I made with the tray of snacks made both of them stop and glare at me like I bothered some really critical hospital operation. I froze with just my eyes moving from Sam to Carly and then Carly to Sam. After a couple of seconds, they finally returned to talking with the slightest smiles on their faces and shy glances to the other.

I jogged down the stairs with a goofy smile on my face. Gibby and Germy stared at me quizzically.

'Don't ask me, I barely even understand what's going on.'

'Barely? That's a joke, right?'

'What makes you think so?'

'You're smiling!' Germy started poking me on the chest with an accusing finger.

'And you're eyebrows are twitching!' and now it was Gibby's turn to poke, which, I should say, pushed me at least a few steps back and would have given me permanent lung damage if I wasn't wearing a tuxedo.

Well, moving on. Round three got my hopes shooting to overdrive. It almost seemed as if the heavier and better tasting the meal I brought up, the more those two gravitated toward each other; Sam was laughing while she fondled with Carly's hair. The brunette, on the other hand, rested her head on Sam's lap while she told the blonde this story about bell peppers and tomatoes. Don't blame me if you don't get it – I don't either. Besides, it's not like I could listen to the entire story because Sam began throwing corn grains at me.

I went back to Kitchen Ala Spencer with pursed lips and sparkling eyes (maybe).

But. You may have figured it out already but, yes, because this is my story, it doesn't go too smoothly. I mean, why else would I have sighed over thirty times?

At Round four, I wasn't even through the door to the rooftop when I heard Carly screaming over something like a mudpie. I'm not sure if I've heard it right, but maybe…it was mudpie. Then, after a loud groan, Sam retorted with something that sounded like "beef cube!"

I hurriedly pushed the door with my shoulders as both my hands were holding two goblets of their supposed dessert. Before I could even comprehend what was going on, a saucer came flying towards me and I had no choice but to hide behind the door again.

'You stay inside, Benson!' that was obviously Sam.

'R-right. I'll be downstairs if you need me!' I called in return.

'Oh, sure! She clearly needs you all the time!' Sam retorted.

'Don't talk to him like that!' and that was Carly for sure.

'Uh. I'm leaving dessert just behind this door, okay?'

No answer.

Silence.

'Uh-right. I'm going downstairs then.'

Then, went another ceramic or glass item that crashed on the other side of the door. I decided I shouldn't be heard by any of them at this point. Thus, I went downstairs with all possible signs of joy and sunshine wiped off my face.

'Um, they didn't like the dessert?' okay. Gibby, that is totally not helpful.

A couple more hours went by and we all grew tired. Gibby and the others left for their homes and Spencer fell asleep on the couch. I was left to be tortured by the anticipation and tension that fattened itself all the way down to the Shay apartment living room.

I haven't had any thought of giving up on them, up until my mom showed, seized me and talked some sense into my head. She locked our main door with chains and padlocks that I never knew existed.

'Women are very difficult to understand. What time did they start arguing?'

'About two hours ago?' I answered.

'Well, that's awfully short then for an argument between two women.'

'Really?' I groaned and without protest, I crawled into my own bed, wishing that tomorrow never came.

00000000

I dragged my feet all the way to my locker and after stuffing my books inside, I rested my forehead on the cold metal, hoping it would relieve the headache I got from lack of sleep.

At this point, it was only a matter of seconds 'til one of them shows up and probably throw a fit or give me the silent treatment. Ugh. It's very early in the morning for Puckett-Shay time.

I closed my eyes and sighed heavily, anticipating the purgatory gates any second now. And there it went, the chambers introduced itself as a slammed locker door a couple of feet away from mine. That sounded like it was the locker further left, that's Carly then. Just before I could open my eyes to say something to her, another locker door shut – also from the left side but a little closer to mine. Dear God, that was Sam. how could have they shown up at nearly the same time? My eyes shot open.

This can't be good.

I was looking at Carly who glared for a second at the blonde right in front of me before turning her heel and beginning her exit.

'So that's how it is, huh?' Sam began, 'you'll walk away just like last night.'

Carly stopped on her tracks and turned to look Sam's way. 'Well, as I recall, you were better at walking away. I just wanted to give it a try. I might feel better.'

'Of course,' Sam faked a chuckle.

'Guys…' I stepped between them and raised both hands. 'Easy.'

'Oh, look, Carly. It's Freddie. You might want to run to him again.'

'Sam? Not good,' I could almost feel the airconditioning in the entire school shut down as a couple of sweat drops trailed down my cheeks.

'Oh, at least he's sensitive enough. You know, kinda like Cindy before you bewildered her with a kiss.'

'Clearly, I'm being ignored here. If you two could just work this-WHAT?' I dropped my hands to my sides and looked at Sam BEWILDERED.

'I didn't kiss her, okay?' Sam said, exasperated.

'Right, she did. Doesn't change the fact that you two still shared a kiss.' Carly rolled her eyes.

'Okaaaaay, knock this off now!' yes, I could see insanity's gates this time.

'Well, at least she wouldn't chicken-out halfway and selfishly flush my feelings in the toilet.'

'Oh, come on!'

'Really, Sam? This is how you feel? I asked you, remember? I told you I just couldn't risk hurting you! And you were all, "okay, cupcake. If that will make you feel better."'

'Knock it off already! Both of you!' my hands now landed on either side of my head.

'Oh? Is that why you stopped halfway last night again?'

'STOP IT!' No matter how hard I squeezed my head, my ears weren't failing me – they really were arguing – and my eyes were seeing very well – students were now piling up to get their share of the spectacle that was the iCarly trio.

'OH! So, now this is my fault too? Weren't you the one who suddenly blurted out something about your little kiss with The Thing?'

'Oh, God! I'm going to hyperventilate!' I shouted, attempting to divert the attention to me.

'Just admit it, Shay. You're just not strong enough,' with that, Sam cocked an eyebrow and Carly fell dangerously silent.

If I knew Carly, she never liked being on the losing end. I could already see her breathing build-up and I knew that what was to ensue wasn't going to be good.

'Oh, this is bad. This is really bad.'

'You,' Carly began, 'take that back right now.'

'Why should I?'

'Okaaay!' I began flailing my arms, shooing the crowd. 'This isn't going to be pretty. Show's over folks! You don't want to be Puckett Meat. Go, now!'

The crowd slowly began to dissipate.

But before the hall could clear up, something happened that I never prepared myself for.

Carlotta Shay dropped her bag, practically seized Sam by the nape and pulled her into a kiss.

Sam's shoulders slowly fell as if she finally took in what had just happened. The crowd was a mixture of gasps, camera clicks, rapid texting, immediate calls and even collecting wins over a bet.

* * *

Review and I'll finish up that half-written document collecting dust in my documents folder :) hehe. thanks guys, you make me happy.


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